Barça lose at Levante as Frankfurt thrash Bayern

Barça lose at Levante as Frankfurt thrash Bayern

Lionel Messi reacts after Levante’s third goal. Photograph: Javier Barbancho/Reuters

La Liga champions Barcelona fell to a shock 3-1 defeat away to Levante after taking the lead but then conceding three times in the space of seven minutes in the second half.

They were in a comfortable position when Lionel Messi converted a penalty in the 38th minute, but their collapse began when José Campaña levelled in the 61st minute following a counterattack, then former Real Madrid striker Borja Mayoral put them ahead in the 63rd minute with a superb curling strike. Nemanja Radoja gave the home side extra breathing space with a third goal in the 67th on the volley following a free-kick to inflict Barça’s third defeat of the campaign.

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Real Madrid then failed to fully capitalise following a 0-0 draw at home with Real Betis, which put them level on points with Barça at the top. Earlier, Sevilla’s Franco Vázquez opened the scoring in the match against Atlético Madrid but Álvaro Morata struck on the hour to earn the visitors a 1-1 draw.

In the Bundesliga, Eintracht Frankfurt crushed 10-man Bayern Munich 5-1 to send them tumbling to fourth position. First-half goals from Filip Kostic and Djibril Sow put the hosts in the driving seat with Bayern down to 10 players after the ninth-minute dismissal of Jérôme Boateng.

Bayern cut the deficit through Robert Lewandowski but David Abraham restored Frankfurt’s two-goal cushion after the break. Martin Hinteregger’s header made sure of the points and Goncalo Paciência completed a horrible afternoon for Bayern and piled the pressure on embattled coach Niko Kovac.

Bayern are now four points behind the leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach, who won 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen. Oscar Wendt opened the scoring for Gladbach in the 18th minute only for Leverkusen’s Kevin Volland to equalise seven minutes later, but the home side snatched a winner three minutes before half-time through Marcus Thuram.

Source:Theguardian

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