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14th May 2018
08:04am BST

Levante went 2-0 up within half an hour before Philippe Coutinho pulled one back. But the hosts did not settle for that lead, pushing forward again and again, scoring three more goals, leading Barça 5-1 with 35 minutes remaining. Barça had a mountain to climb, but yet again they almost reached the summit.
Philippe Coutinho took on the burden of leading the attacks, scoring a hat-trick, including two spectacular strikes, and almost forced an equaliser for the visitors to make it 5-5. Almost.
This thrilling encounter featured 30 fouls, 12 cards, and nine goals. To think, some people call this league boring and uncompetitive.
This result brings Barcelona's 43-game (seven games at the end of last season and 36 this season) unbeaten run to an end and prevents them from becoming the first ever Spanish team to claim the title of The Invincibles.
It was never going to be easy, though, with Levante in a rich vein of form. This win was their eighth in their last ten matches under Paco Jemez, an incredible record considering they only won two of their first nine home games this season.
Before the game, Jemez explained in his press conference that "it would be historic for us to beat Barcelona."
Well, they just went and made history.Explore more on these topics: