It took 80 games for FC Barcelona to drop its first points at the Estadi Johan Cruyff. The Blaugrana fiefdom has been a true fortress since its debut in 2019, where until today it had added 79 wins. A very brave Levante recovered from the embarrassing defeat in the Super Cup final (7-0) less than a month ago and forced a creditable draw against the leader thanks to a goal from Alba Redondo. A feat that only Benfica had achieved this season in the Champions League, when they tied in Portugal (4-4) against the Blaugrana. Today, two weeks later, they conceded their second draw of the season, this time in League F, in the postponed match of matchday 14.
Levante came out seriously, containing Barça well and showing that they had learned from the mistakes made in the Super Cup final, where the Granota team suffered a painful 7-0 defeat by the Blaugrana.
Barça were the only ones with the ball, but they were having trouble creating chances in the face of Levante's suffocating defensive pressure. The Catalan team protested a very clear penalty on Irene Paredes. Leire Baños brought down the Basque central defender in the area, but the referee did not point anything out despite the Blaugrana's complaints.
The dominance of the culés was total, but despite this, Levante did not give up taking the ball from behind again and again in a brave approach by Javier Sánchez Vera's team.
The Catalan team cooked and cooked the goal, until it was over twenty minutes into the game. A great play from a short corner so that Salma Paralluelo looked for the gap and shot at the goal completely alone with a cross-shot that no one was able to finish, but which ended up in the back of the net.
It took Cata Coll half an hour to touch the ball for the first time and that was when her team played with her to build a new attack. Barça could have gone to the locker room with a greater advantage if it had not been for another refereeing controversy. The referee decided to whistle the end of the first half in the middle of an attack by the Catalan team. Just when Salma Paralluelo was going to arm her leg to shoot at goal, Beatriz Cuesta signaled the break. The ball ended up going in, but the goal did not go up on the scoreboard, despite the protests of the public and the Catalan players, since the referee had already blown the whistle for half-time.
After passing through the locker room, Levante came out bravely for the tie and achieved it with a goal from Alba Redondo after ten minutes. The pressure from the Granota team caused a loss of the ball for the Blaugrana and Erika González took advantage of it to send a perfect filtered pass for the Levante forward to put the score at 1-1.
Barça reacted quickly and Keira Walsh responded with a powerful shot into the hands of Tarazón. Jonatan Giráldez moved the bench to try to break the tie, and he looked for it with intensity, but Levante was playing a very serious game and I was not going to give them the victory. What's more, he would try to win the victory by taking advantage of some counterattack with courage.
The ending was truly heart-stopping. The visiting team committed a very dangerous foul on the edge of the area. One of those that Caroline Graham Hansen does not usually miss, but her shot was defective, missing a very clear opportunity to take the lead. Claudia Pina and Vicky López also tried, whose shot was thwarted by Tarazona with a save. The game died with Barça completely focused on the Levante area, but time ran out, letting the first points of the year slip away. A point that Sánchez Vera's team would celebrate as if it were a victory.
