Lewandowski rises above the chaos
Barcelona beat Valencia 4-2 on Monday night in a wild game at Montjuic that featured goals, big mistakes, a penalty, a red card and three points for Xavis side.
The Barca boss resisted calls to rotate his squad for this one and saw his team win in the first game since he had announced hed be staying. They now sit second ahead of a trip to Girona at the weekend.
A mad start saw Barca take the lead, go behind after poor errors from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Ronald Araujo, and then be handed a lifeline when Giorgi Mamardashvili saw red for another moment of madness.
The one player who profited enormously from all of the nonsense was Lewandowski who grabbed his first ever La Liga hat-trick thanks to two headers and a lovely free-kick.
Lewandowski had dismissed speculation of an exit before the game and then let his football do the talking. Hes now won Barca 17 points with his goals in LaLiga this season – more than any other player in Spains top flight.
Error count totting up for Araujo
Valencia took the lead against Barcelona after Araujo conceded a penalty for a foul on Peter Gonzalez in the box.
The defender has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, following his red card against PSG and his rather disappointing reaction to Ilkay Gundogans comments, and this was another error to add to his growing collection.
Araujo certainly wont enjoy reading this stat:
6 – Ronald Araujo has been shown two red cards, conceded two penalties and made two errors leading to goals this season in all competitions, the most of any LaLiga player in total (six). Strange. pic.twitter.com/loP6uzYH2g
OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 29, 2024
The Uruguayan hasnt suddenly become a bad player, far from it, and Barca really wouldnt be better off without him right now. However, he does need a good coach to help him learn from his errors.
Fermin deserves a bigger role next season
Barcelonas opening goal came from the head of the effervescent Fermin Lopez who really does deserve a bigger role next season. Fermin has been promoted to the first team this season and has proven to be a really useful asset.
The midfielder netted his eighth goal of the season at Montjuic with a fine header. Hes now Barcas fourth-highest scorer this season even though hes only played a total of 1406 minutes in all competitions.
24 – Fermín López’s goal against Valencia came after a sequence of 24 passes, the longest prior to a @FCBarcelona goal in LaLiga since February 2021 (35 passes in Trincão’s goal v Alavés). Combination. pic.twitter.com/bOej6XdpNs
OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 30, 2024
Fermin may not quite be ready for a regular role as a starter next year but he does a lot of things very well indeed and has a unique profile in the squad. He is full of energy, has bags of talent and offers a very real goal threat.
The 20-year-old is also a smart cookie with a real determination to succeed. Dont forget he was playing on loan at Linares last year before coming back to Barcelona and forcing his way into the first-team squad.