Commitment and efficiency gave the Levante a victory against Elche (3-0) that allows him to dream of permanence while slowing down the good dynamics of his rival in the second round, since this time he was far from expected.
A goal from Morales in the final stretch of the first half put the match in the face of the local team, which confirmed its superiority midway through the second period through Jorge de Frutos.
Gumbau’s expulsion with a direct red card a quarter of an hour from the end of the game reduced the chances of the visitors to aspire to equalize and led to a final quarter of an hour of the clash in which Levante found themselves comfortable.
Levante faced the clash with a defense of five, while Elche presented themselves with a 4-4-2so both teams maintained the approaches that had given good results to both formations in recent games.
After the trial of the first moments, Elche took possession of the ball and began to handle it judiciously in the center of the field to try to center balls facing Boyé and Carrillo, two men from the area with the ability to finish off.
Levante, orderly and successful in defense, sought to go on the counterattack, but very few of their strikers arrived in the vicinity of Edgar Badía.
That phase of the match lasted for many minutes in which Levante barely reached the visiting goal, but in which the outside attacks did not create any danger either, despite the good rhythm of the game with which the game progressed.
After half an hour of play, local arrivals, always against, began to be more frequent and in one of them, in a speed action led by De Frutos from the right, came 1-0 thanks to a shot by Morales that hit the crossbar before finishing in a goal.
after the break, Elche’s dominance waned against Levante who had more possession of the ball and, above all, more presence in the center of the field, which generated a game of level forces, but in which it seemed that they had begun to evolve at the pace that most interested them to the home team.
A free kick launched by Gumbau (m.57) became Elche’s first threat in a phase of the match in which the alternatives against both goals animated the clash.
against, in a play that De Frutos started and finished, it was 2-0 that at that point he was already rewarding the team that had put in the most up to then to reach the match based on their defensive solidity and ability to strike in attack.
That goal, together with Gumbau’s expulsion, put the clash in the face of Levantewho has added seven of the last nine points he has played and, what serves him most, has changed his image.
Elche was never comfortable in the match, not even during the first half hour of play, when they dominated territorially, but without depth, although they sent a ball to the post in extra time.
Datasheet:
3 – Levante: Cárdenas, Miramón, Róber Pier, Duarte, Cáceres (Coke, m.86), Son, Pepelu, Malsa (Vukcevic, m.86), De Frutos (Bardhi, m.75), Roger (Dani Gómez, m.86) and Morales (Melero, m.64).
0 – Elche: Edgar Badía, Barragán (Josan, m.60), Roco, Bigas, Mojica, Tete Morente (Marcone, m.75), Mascarell (Raúl Guti (m.75), Gumbau, Pere Milla (fidel, m.75), Carrillo and Boyé (Ponce, m.60).
Goals: 1-0, m.38: Morales. 2-0, m.68: Of Fruits. 3-0, m.89: Melero.
Referee: González Fuertes (Asturian committee). He admonished De Frutos (m.69) for Levante and his coach Francisco Rodríguez (m.55), Barragán (m.59) and Roco (m.81) for Elche. He expelled the visitor Gumbau with a direct red card (m.74)
Incidents: Match of the twenty-sixth day of the League played at the Ciutat de València stadium.
