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BARCELONA: Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 victory over Levante to reclaim pole position in La Liga on Sunday.
After Real Madrid fell to a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna on Saturday, Hansi Flick’s side moved a point clear of their bitter rivals with a comfortable victory at Camp Nou against the team in 19th.
Marc Bernal and Frenkie de Jong gave Barca a commanding first-half lead and Fermin Lopez wrapped up the win with a sensational drive late on.
Barcelona were glad to get back to winning ways after a 4-0 thrashing by Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg last week and then a 2-1 defeat by Girona on Monday in La Liga.
“I’m very happy with the three points and to help the team with a goal,” Bernal told Movistar. “It’s true they had a chance in the first minute, with my goal we were able to stay calm and build confidence.”
It was Bernal’s second goal since returning from a long-term knee injury, which kept the 18-year-old out of action for over a year.
“I thought of my father (in my celebration) and my physio — he told me I would score and he has helped me a lot in this process,” added Bernal.
Despite Flick’s calls for improvement in defence, Barca were as open as ever, although Levante’s poor finishing meant they could not capitalise.Defeat leaves Levante seven points from safety.
“In the first half we had some chances that, if we put them away, could have got them to doubt themselves,” said Levante midfielder Carlos Alvarez. “If we’d have gone in front, who knows what could have happened.”
On Saturday, Raul Garcia’s superb 90th-minute strike consigned Real to a shock defeat at Osasuna, in a blow to their title hopes.
Alvaro Arbeloa’s Real put on a below-par performance in Pamplona and fell behind to an Ante Budimir penalty, before Vinicius Jr pulled the visitors level.
The second leg of Madrid’s Champions League play-off against Jose Mourinho’s Benfica on Wednesday seemed to play on their minds as they failed to kick on at El Sadar.
Vinicius, who scored a sensational goal to give Real a slender first-leg lead but was then the victim of alleged racial abuse, thought he had earned his team a point before Garcia blasted home the winner.
“It was not a good game from us... we have to play a lot better,” Arbeloa told reporters. “We had control at some points but we lacked speed in our play... on Wednesday we have another final, another game that is very important for us.”
Earlier, Atletico Madrid, fourth, got back to winning ways with an entertaining 4-2 victory over Espanyol. Elsewhere, Sevilla earned a 1-0 win at Getafe, while Real Betis, fifth, were held 1-1 at home against Rayo Vallecano.
Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2026
