Madrid., FC Barcelona beat Deportivo Alavés this Sunday (0-3) to settle at the top of LaLiga EA Sports, a game on matchday nine in which a hat-trick by Polish striker Robert Lewandowski in the first half allowed for the azulgranas to forget the setback in Pamplona.
In this way, the culé team banishes all doubts, something that has already begun to work in ‘Champions’ against Young Boys (5-0). In the first half of a spectacular strike, Lewandowski collected the ball from the back of the net three times (min.7, 22 and 32) to confirm himself as Pichichi of the category with ten goals. With this, Barça has 24 points, three more than Real Madrid and seven more than third-placed Villarreal.
With only one change compared to the ‘Champions’ eleven, that of Héctor Fort for Jules Koundé who Hansi Flick decided to rest, the Barça team took the field ready to make it clear that the defeat at El Sadar (4-2) had been somewhat punctual. Already after three minutes, Raphinha found the net after getting rid of Sivera, but the referee annulled the goal due to offside from Lamine Yamal.
The situation seemed to get complicated shortly after, in the 6th minute, when Ferran Torres asked for the substitution suffering from discomfort in his right leg, which forced the German coach to turn to Eric García, but Lewandowski was in charge of clearing up any hint of doubt by heading in at the back of the net a great lateral foul taken by Raphinha (min.7).
After a saving hand from Iñaki Peña on a shot from Stoichkov, the Polish striker reappeared to take advantage of another great filtered pass from the Brazilian attacker, which left him alone against the babazorro goalkeeper to score the second goal of the afternoon (min.22) .
Sivera was able to make up for it in the next play by first thwarting a one-on-one from Raphinha and, on the rebound, another shot from Lewandowski, but he could not do anything when, after half an hour of play, he received from Eric García and hooked a cross shot that allowed him to close his hat-trick in Vitoria (min.32).
Luis García Plaza’s men managed to close the gap before the break, but Toni Martínez’s goal in the 45th minute was annulled after the referee and the VAR determined that he was in an illegal position. Before facing the locker room tunnel, Pedri forgave the fourth by failing to finish after a Raphinha corner kick.
Once again Toni Martínez spurred the locals on as soon as the match resumed with a shot that repelled the post, just after Iñaki Peña put his hand out to prevent Carlos Vicente’s Olympic goal. Meanwhile, Flick withdrew Lamine Yamal and Héctor Fort and brought in Ansu Fati and Jules Koundé.
The Spanish striker wasted no time and came close to scoring twice in a couple of minutes, the first frustrated by a great save from Sivera and the second, by the post. Little by little, the pace was declining, although the Vitorians still worried the leader with a goal from Santiago Mouriño that was not added to the scoreboard due to offside in the 85th minute.
#Barcelona #beats #Alavés #consolidate #lead
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