La Liga: Barcelona were cruising towards a crucial win after goals from Lionel Messi and Pedri in the first half but the Catalans conceded thrice in the second half to lose two crucial points at Levante on Tuesday.
Barcelona’s title hopes took a big hit after they were held to 3-3 draw at Levante (Reuters Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Barcelona’s title hopes all but over after disappointing draw at Levenate on Tuesday
- Barcelona let go off a two-goal advantage to settle for a draw at Levante
- Conceding three times in 45 minutes is not the level you expect from Barcelona: Ronald Koeman
Barcelona’s title hopes are all but over as the La Liga giants collapsed to a 3-3 draw at Levante after going 2-0 up at the break in their crunch league fixture on Tuesday. With their title hopes severely dented, Ronald Koeman, who took over the job last year, expects questions to be asked of his future at the Catalan club.
Lionel Messi and Pedri scored first-half goals and Barcelona looked set to provisionally top the La Liga table but they conceded thrice in the second half to lose 2 points. Koeman’s side are now sitting at the 2nd spot with 76 points from 36 matches, one less than leaders Atletico Madrid who have a game in hand. Real Madrid, in third, will go two points ahead of Barcelona with two games left in the season if they beat Granada on Thursday.
“Coaches are always being scrutinised but after a second-half like that, I will understand if there are questions about me. We’re very disappointed and asking ourselves what happened in the second half. But we have to move on and try to prepare for next season,” Koeman told the press on Tuesday.
“We were good in the first half, we played with pace and intensity and got ahead but we lost a lot of balls in dangerous positions in the second half and made lots of errors in defence,” Koeman added.
“We reacted after it was 2-2 and got the goal but we made it too easy for them to score. Conceding three times in 45 minutes is not the level you expect from Barcelona.”
Now it looks very difficult: Koeman
Koeman was one of Barca’s best-loved players for his role in securing their first ever European Cup in 1992 and he left his job as Netherlands head coach to take charge of the Catalans last August after Quique Setien was sacked.
Barcelona made a dismal start to the season and Koeman admitted in January that his side were practically out of the title race.
They hauled themselves back into contention by winning 16 games out of 19 but have undone their hard work by taking five points from their last four matches, losing 2-1 to Granada last month while drawing 0-0 with Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
“Our objective was to win our final three games and see if the others dropped points but now it’s very difficult,” Koeman added.
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