FCBARCELONA.CAT

29.04.2007 12:13

Levante searching for safety

www.fcbarcelona.cat

The team from Valencia, visit Camp Nou to face the Liga leaders this Sunday in the search of points in order to avoid the drop.

Barça’s opponents this Sunday are a team experiencing mixed fortunes this season. They have only achieved 30 points until now and find themselves in 18th position in the Liga. However, they are a team who at the beginning of the season had the objective of staying up; following their promotion the season before.

Negative results

Abel Resino’s team have gone nine games without a win and have only achieved five points out of a possible 27. In their last game, they drew 1-1 with Getafe, and in their last away game, they lost 1-0 against Athletico Madrid. The last time the team ‘Granota’ came away with the three points, was against Recreativo at home.

Despite these bad results, their last away victory was that against Real Madrid on the 4th of February at the Santiago Bernabeu, thanks to a goal from Salva Ballesta.

Defensive team

The team from Valencia play with a 4-4-2 structure. Levante base their game on defence and wait for their chance to break on the counter attack. Therefore, Barça will find themselves up against a well organised team ready for a fight; Barça should therefore have the objective of finding the net in the first half in order to open up the defence later on.

New signings

Levante were one of the few teams which brought in reinforcements during the winter break in forward, Salva Ballesta and defender, Jose Manuel Serrano. These two signings came in to try and solve both their defensive and attacking problems. However, Salva, a player with vast experience in the first division, has only notched up 3 goals in nine games. The defence has allowed 41 goals to get past them; they are a team with one of the worst defensive records.

Other changes have occurred, but not regarding the players. Pedro Villarroel stepped down from his position and now it is Julio Romero running the club. Juan Ramon Lopez was brought in to lead the team, however, after the loss to Valencia in the 18th game of the season, the manager was sacked due to a record of 4 wins and 6 draws and 8 losses. Abel Resino was his replacement, however, the results have not been as hoped. Up until now, he has achieved two wins, 6 draws and 5 losses, amounting to 12 points in 13 games.