On the ruins of Gordon: Barcelona demolish Levante's defences with Guardiola's magic trick

The Catalan side secured their fifth La Liga win: so how did it happen?

Barcelona barely had to break sweat to secure a fifth straight La Liga win and pull clear at the top of the table.

They beat Levante 4-2 on Sunday at the Ciutat de València in the fifth round of La Liga.

That fifth win in a row lifts Barca to the summit on 15 points, a perfect record and three clear of traditional rivals Real Madrid in second.

Levante had gone unbeaten at home in their last eight matches. Hansi Flick's players brought that run to an end.

Guardiola's magic trick

It began with Xavi Espart. The emerging Spanish full-back drilled home from outside the box in the fifth minute for his first Barcelona goal.

That strike showcased Espart's quality as much as Flick's knack for getting the best out of him. The coach has deployed him in an inverted or overlapping left-back role since the start of the season.

Pep Guardiola made this method his trademark, particularly at Manchester City, whether with the English full-back Kyle Walker, his compatriot Rico Lewis, or even the Portuguese Joao Cancelo, now a Barcelona player.

Flick turned the 19-year-old into something of a midfielder, forever bursting into space and exploiting the channel between Levante's right-back and the centre-back on his side.

Espart thrived in the role. He gave Barcelona a constant extra body in midfield, then crowned his display with the goal that handed the Catalans control of the match from the off.

Gordon the victim

Every approach, however positive, must have a victim, and Espart's magic trick claimed the England winger Anthony Gordon, the worst player on Barcelona's side.

Stuck out on the flank, close to the touchline, Gordon spent the entire match marooned from the danger zone until Germany's Karim Adeyemi replaced him midway through the second half.

In 67 minutes, he managed not a single shot on or off target, completed no dribbles, and made just 16 passes, most of them backwards.

Then came the twist. Adeyemi, his replacement, went on to score the Catalans' fourth goal. Gordon, it seems, was a victim not only of Xavi Espart but of himself after his worst performance in a Barcelona shirt.

Garcia crisis

Espart's style keeps him constantly advanced. That forces Flick to lean on a right-back who commits to the defensive side and can slot into the heart of the defence when covering for the Spanish full-back.

Flick's answer was Eric García at full-back, alongside Pau Cubarsí and Gerard Martín in central defence. Martín shifted to left-back to cover for Espart, while García tucked in as a second centre-back next to Cubarsí.

García handled the role well. He couldn't shut down the threat of Spanish winger Roger Brugué, though. Brugué whipped in crosses that troubled Barcelona's goal before scoring himself with a superb piece of individual skill.

Barcelona's punishment

Barcelona struck first, and Julian Calero's Levante responded with a gamble: pressing the Catalans extremely high up the pitch. It was a double-edged risk.

That gamble cost them the second goal. Their high press failed to win the ball off the Barcelona players, who then carried it to the hosts' goal in just a few passes.

Twice Barcelona made them pay. The second goal arrived in the 19th minute to effectively settle the match, then the third came at the start of the second half to end any hope of a comeback for good.

Unacceptable mistakes

Emphatic though the win was, Flick must warn his Barcelona players against slipping back into their habits from the closing minutes. Repeat that against a stronger side and the consequences would be dire.

In those final stages, Barcelona's players behaved as though the match was already over. They competed with one another to make mistakes: sloppy passing, poor marking, weak tackles.

Levante pounced. They scored twice and came close to catching Barcelona cold with a deadly equaliser. Only Ademi's success in ending the match with a superb piece of individual skill, the deadly fourth goal, spared the hosts.