Unheralded Levante took outright possession of La Liga leadership for the first time in their 102-year history late Sunday with a 3-0 win at Villarreal.

Levante, who just avoided relegation last season, are in the unlikely position of looking down on Real Madrid and Barcelona with 20 points thanks to a six-match winning streak which began with a win over Real.

Bubbling with confidence, they went ahead through Juanlu Gomez after 16 minutes against Villarreal, who looked weary after their mid-week clash at Manchester City in the Champions League.

The pace of the Levante forward line was causing plenty of problems and Juanlu got his second before the break.

Arouna Kone then blasted home shortly before the hour mark to ensure the three points for Levante who survive on a modest 12 million-euro budget.

“We are going through a special moment. I am happy but I have my feet on the ground. More than anything it is good to see the people of Levante so happy because they deserve it,” said Levante coach Juan Ignacio Martinez.

“While it is great to be the leader for a team like Levante, we know that this match was just a further step forward and that we need to keep working.

“I don’t think that we were so much better than Villarreal, we were lucky with the first goal and from there it was easy for us.”

Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido did not look for any excuses and admitted his team were well beaten.

“This was a tough and resounding defeat but the team must now respond and overcome this,” he said.

On Saturday, Lionel Messi missed a late penalty as Barcelona could only draw 0-0 with nine-man Sevilla.

Barcelona are third on 18 points while Real Madrid are second on 19 points after a 4-0 win over Malaga with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a 15-minute hat-trick.