FC Barcelona surrendered a 1-0 lead and crashed to a shock 3-1 defeat away to a Levante side that hadn't won at home since August, on Saturday afternoon.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde brought Antoine Griezmann back into his side, while resting midfielder Sergio Busquets and playing Frenkie de Jong, Arturo Vidal and Arthur Melo in midfield.

Levante had more of the ball in the Barca half, but the best early chance fell to Griezmann whose right foot shot was well saved by Aitor in the Levante goal.

Barca led at halftime through a Leo Messi penalty after Nelson Semedo had been fouled in the penalty area, although shortly afterwards they lost Luis Suarez with an ankle injury.

Everything fell apart for Barca in a seven minute spell in the second half which saw Levante play some spectacular football and blow them away with three goals.

Jose Campano equalized on the hour after a poor ball from the back caught the Barca defense out of positon and allowed Borja Mayoral to set him up for an easy goal.

Barca were stunned by the equalizer and two minutes later they were behind when Mayoral crashed home a 25-yard shot from the edge of the area that Barca keeper Ter Stegen got a fingertip to, but was unable to keep out.

Nemanja Radoja added a third in the 68th minute when his shot from inside the area took a slight deflection off Sergio Busquets which was just enough to take it past Ter Stegen and into the net.

It is Barca's third away defeat of the season and implies that after recent good results, they are still well below what is expected of them. 

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