Levante fight back for point

Almeria surrendered a two-goal lead in the second half to share the spoils in a 2-2 draw with Levante in the Primera Division.

The hosts went ahead through a penalty from Jose Antonio Rabasco 'Verza' in the 45th minute with Jesus Joaquin Fernandez 'Suso' doubling the advantage early in the second half.

Christian Fernandez was sent off for the hosts shortly after the goal and Nabil El Zhar put Levante back in contention with a penalty, before Pape Diop completed Joaquin Caparros' side's comeback.

It was the fourth game this season in which Almeria have dropped points from a winning position and they are still yet to win in the top flight.

Levante meanwhile extended their unbeaten run to four games and have taken six points so far this season.

The only change Almeria coach Francisco Javier Rodriguez made from the team that lost 4-2 to Atletico Madrid last weekend was Nelson Augusto Baba Diawara made his first start for Levante, with Andreas Ivanschitz behind him in attack.

German full-back Christian Lell made his debut for the Valencia club.

Almeria took the initiative from the start. creating four goalscoring chances inside the opening 20 minutes.

Suso, on loan from Liverpool was the first to frighten the Levante defence, entering the box and shooting over the bar on five minutes.

Levante goalkeeper Keylor Navas was called into action a few minutes later, diving across to rob the fall from Fernando Soriano's feet inside the six-yard box.

The Costa Rican then made two further saves in less than a minute, first pushing away a knock-on from Rodri and then tipping over a well-struck effort from Suso.

However, Levante then broke and came even closer to scoring.

Ivanschitz shot on goal just outside the area, and goalkeeper Esteban Suarez spilled the ball out to Diawara, who somehow shot into the side netting from 10 yards out.

Verza then shaved Navas' post with a shot from the edge of the area just after half an hour of play.

The hosts were awarded a penalty right on the stroke of half-time when Suso was dragged to the ground by Levante defender Juanfran Garcia, and Verza sent Navas the wrong way to score.

Suso extended Almeria's advantage five minutes into the second half, hammering the ball into the far corner of Navas' net from 25 yards out.

Almeria looked all set to ride out the victory but Levante were suddenly presented with a way back into the game.

Christian Fernandez was given two yellow cards in a minute for two successive clashes in the area when defending a corner, the second of which led to a Levante penalty.

El Zhar made no mistake and Levante had halved the deficit and were now with an extra man.

They capitalised on their advantage immediately after. Diop met an outswinging corner on the edge of the box and volleyed into the net.

Even with 10 men, Almeria had another chance to go back in front as Rodri raced towards goal at an angle, but Navas came out to thwart him.