on 13 june 2010, levante returned to la liga after a 3–1 home win against already relegated castellón. it lost in the final round 0–4 at real betis, but its opponents only managed to finish with the same points as fourth. under the manager who led the team back to the top flight, luis garcía plaza, levante finally retained its division status in the 2010–11 season. during one point of the league's second round of matches, levante was in third position in the liga table, only behind barcelona and real madrid after losing just once in 12 games, against real madrid.