La Liga Review: Barcelona cruise past Levante, no joy for Sevilla
Barcelona recorded a routine win over Levante at Camp Nou, while Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla fell to La Liga defeats on Sunday.
Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona to a comfortable 4-1 win over Levante at Camp Nou as Luis Enrique's side maintained their 100 per cent start in La Liga.
The visitors managed to keep it scoreless in the opening 45 minutes as Messi and his team-mates missed a number of fine chances, but they had no such luck after the break.
Marc Bartra broke the deadlock in the 50th minute after a brilliant pass from Messi and Neymar doubled Barca's lead soon afterwards following good work from Dani Alves.
Messi then made it three himself on the hour mark when he converted a penalty after Neymar had been brought down inside the area.
Victor Cadesus pegged one back for Levante, but it was once more Messi who had the last word.
The Argentina international first missed a penalty, wildly blasting it over the bar, but eventually got his second of the evening in the 90th minute with a calm finish.
Meanwhile, Sevilla were unable to build on their Champions League win over Borussia Monchengladbach as Celta Vigo earned a 2-1 victory.
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Nolito and Daniel Wass both found the net for the away side, while Fernando Llorente netted the host's solitary reply.
Villarreal recorded an impressive 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao at El Madrigal. Bruno Soriano gave the hosts the lead when he converted a penalty shortly before the interval, with Mario Gaspar and Leo Baptistao making it three in the second half. Aritz Adurz pulled one back in the dying minutes of the game, but it was too little, too late for the Basque outfit.
A sublime start helped Sporting Gijon to a 3-2 away win over Deportivo La Coruna as Antonio Sanabria netted twice in the opening 10 minutes only for Juanfran and Luis Alberto to make it 2-2 inside half an hour. Alex Menendez restored his side's lead before the break, though, and it would remain 3-2 for the away side.
Elsewhere, Las Palmas were beaten 1-0 at home by Rayo Vallecano, with Javi Guerra netting the only goal of the game just before half time.