Football
Dermot Ledwith 10y

Luis Enrique and Barcelona beat Levante, keep fourth clean sheet

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique cautioned against anyone getting carried away after his side's 5-0 stroll past Levante on Sunday evening sent the Catalans well clear in the early La Liga standings. The clean sheet was Barca's fourth of the season in four La Liga games so far.

Goals from Neymar, Ivan Rakitic, Pedro Rodriguez, Sandro and Lionel Messi were more than enough to beat bottom team Levante, with Messi also missing a penalty after home defender Loukas Vyntra was sent off for a professional foul before half-time.

With a 100 percent record after four games, Barca already have a six-point advantage on rivals Real Madrid, with defending champions Atletico Madrid also four points off the top.

However the blaugrana boss told his post-match news conference at the Ciutat de Levante stadium that he was sure there would be many twists and turns between now and the end of the La Liga season.

"This is week four, we are just doing our work," Luis Enrique said. "This has just started. There are many dances to come in the standings. But overall I was happy with today."

Messi had a mixed game, missing the 11th penalty of his career. But he scored a superb chipped goal, while also making two assists to take his tally to six in just five games this season.

Luis Enrique said he was especially happy to see this generous side of the Argentine's game coming through.

"Messi is unique, special," he said. "His teammates already know he can provide them with spectacular assists. I love that they take advantage of these link-ups. He played a complete game."

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Neymar also had an up and down evening -- scoring the first goal from Messi's fine pass, but being substituted early in the second after first appearing to want to come off due to an ankle problem, then seeming to want to continue.

Luis Enrique said the decision to make the change had been precautionary, to ensure there were no further complications.

"Neymar went over on the ankle which he had injured not long ago, so we decided to change him," he said. "He was a bit worried at first, he has a slight strain on his ankle. There is no controversy or anything strange."

'Lucho', now the first coach in Barca history to go through the first four games of the season without conceding a goal, said he was happy with the way his team were dealing with the different challenges posed by each opponent so far.

"This reinforces the idea of the game that we have," Luis Enrique said. "We suffered the odd counter-attack. I am happy for having achieved our objective after a Champions League win, when it can be difficult. We got a good win.

"At the start of the game it was tough for us, later we had more fluidity in our play. We try to solve the problems which our opponents pose for us. It was a difficult game, we resolved it in a standout way."

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