Barcelona 0 - 0 Levante: Levante Denied Penalty At Camp Nou

There are a few groans eminating from the Camp Nou crowd as we draw closer to half-time. Shaky in defence and lacking in ideas upfront, Barcelona will have to conjure up something special to break down a well-organised Levante defence. Indeed it could well have been worse for Barca had referee Perez Lasa spotted a foul by Eric Abidal on Juanlu on 22 minutes. While the challenge looked innocuous enough at first, replays show there was a definite foul committed by the Frenchman.

Bojan and Dani Alves have both gone close to opening the scoring with scrappy efforts inside the box, but that’s as good as it’s got for the home side as Levante continue to hold Barcelonas stars at bay. Even without Messi, Guardiolas side can count on the likes of Xavi, Pedro, David Villa and Iniesta, so in theory they really should have too much for Levante. But credit to the side from Valencia, with the back four defending doggedly, ably protected by defensive midfielder Pallardó. This could be a long night for the Catalans.