- Two first half goals from Erick Cabaco and Borja Mayoral were all Levante needed to beat Barcelona 2-1 in their Copa Del Rey clash
- Philippe Coutinho also found the back of the net through the spot kick but his strike was unable to rescue the Catalans from losing
- Both teams have one more chance to seal their passage to the next round when they battle at the Camp Nou a week from now
Barcelona risk crashing out of this season's Copa Del Rey tournament early following their 2-1 defeat to Levante in the first leg of the round of 16 clash at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia on Thursday night.
Erick Cabaco opened scoring for the hosts as early as the fourth minute of the encounter with Ruben Rochina claiming the assist for the goal.
And just 14 minutes later, Borja Mayoral doubled his side's lead as cruised to a 2-0 win after the first half of the encounter.
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Although, coach Ernesto Valverde rested Lionel Messi for the meeting, the Catalans still paraded most of their best player for the game.
Both sides resumed hostilities on return from the break but all efforts to find the back of the net early failed to materialise.
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However, the Camp Nou outfit finally got a chance to reduce the deficit after being awarded a spot kick - which Philippe Coutinho successfully converted to hand his side an away goal advantage ahead of the second leg a week later.
Barcelona are the defending champions of the tourney having won their 30th title last season and they will be disappointed to be ousted at this stage of the competition.
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Meanwhile, Valverde's men return to their La Liga title defence this weekend when they host Eibar at the Camp Nou on Sunday.
Legit.ng recalls that Barcelona thrashed Cultural Leonesa 4-1 to reach of Copa del Rey round of 16 stage.
Two goals from Denis Suarez, while one each from Munir and Malcom ensured the Catalans cruised to a convincing victory over the lower leage side.
The encounter also gave coach Ernesto Valverde the chance to rotate his squad with the likes of Chumi, Juan Miranda, Oriol Busquets and Carles Alena making the starting XI.
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