Unbeaten Levante maintain early season promise
Sunday, September 25, 2011
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Levante UD maintained their impressive start to the Liga season by seeing off nine-man RCD Espanyol 3-1 to move level on points with second-placed FC Barcelona.
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Levante UD maintained their unbeaten start to the season and picked up a third consecutive win against nine-man RCD Espanyol to move level on points with second-placed FC Barcelona and one point adrift of Real Betis Balompié at the summit.
Levante's Rubén Suárez opened the scoring via a penalty (14) and added a second from the spot (58) after Jordi Amat was dismissed for the visitors. Héctor Moreno (73) then gave Espanyol a lifeline, but any hopes of a comeback were extinguished when José Barkero scored Levante's third, with Walter Pandiani subsequently seeing red nine minutes from time.
RCD Mallorca moved up to 11th via a 2-1 victory against Real Sociedad de Fútbol that came courtesy of goals from Victor Casadesus (20) and Gonzalo Castro (50) after Imanol Agirretxe's 15th-minute strike for Real Sociedad. In Sunday's late kick-off, Málaga CF were held to a 0-0 draw at Real Zaragoza.
Raúl García (29) was on target for CA Osasuna in their game at Granada CF, but Fran Rico earned the hosts a point on 64 minutes. Real Sporting de Gijón, meanwhile, remain rooted to the foot of the table after a goalless draw at home to Real Racing Club who, like their opponents, have yet to secure a first victory of the season.