Levante 3 Las Palmas 2: Morales double secures much-needed victory

Jose Luis Morales starred as Levante picked up three valuable points with a 3-2 win over fellow Liga strugglers Las Palmas.

Levante went into the meeting at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia at the foot of the table, four points behind their 18th-placed opponents and one further adrift of safety, but Morales proved too much for Las Palmas to handle with an impressive double.

Rubi’s side got off the mark with 25 minutes played when Morales reacted quickest to tap home after Verza’s 25-yard free-kick was tipped onto the post by visiting goalkeeper Javi Varas.

Levante held the lead into the break and then extended it within two minutes of the restart – Deyverson producing an accurate finish from the left-hand side of the box following Jefferson Lerma’s flick.

Willian Jose provided a swift response for Las Palmas, picking out the top-right corner with a fine finish from 15 yards in the 49th minute.

Morales bent home a brilliant second – his fourth in his last three Liga appearances – shortly after the hour mark to restore Levante’s two-goal cushion, but Willian Jose capitalised on a miscommunication between Levante goalkeeper Diego Merino and Zouhair Feddal to double his tally just three minutes later.

Giuseppe Rossi was handed 15 minutes as he made his debut from the substitutes’ bench, while Deyverson was shown a second yellow card in the 93rd minute as the hosts finished with 10 men.