With 73 points, Barça once again surpasses Girona in the table (3rd, 71 points), but has eleven less than the leader Real Madrid (84) with only five games remaining and therefore fifteen points at stake.
In Montjuic, Fermin Lopez opened the scoring (22) but Hugo Duror tied after a bad start Marc André Ter-Stegen (27) and, ten minutes later, Pepelu He put Valencia ahead (38) from the penalty spot.
The visiting goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili He was sent off for a handball outside the area minutes before the break, decimating his team throughout the second half. Taking advantage of the superiority, Lewandowski He came to the rescue of his team, with two headed goals (49 and 82) and another from a direct free kick (90+3).
Coach Xavi Hernandez was able to celebrate with victory his announcement on Thursday that he would continue on the FC Barcelona bench next season.
“I have felt the support of the club, the president, Deco and, above all, the footballers”, Hernández confessed to the DAZN broadcaster. “I am a culé, I feel this (…) The day it ends, I will be here with my children, watching the game. If I feel that I have the support of the footballers, it is something fundamental.”
For its part, Valencia (8th, 47 points) suffers a second consecutive defeat in the Spanish League that complicates its objective of accessing qualifying positions for European competitions.
In an entertaining match, it was Valencia the one who began to sneak around the rival goal, with an aesthetic backheel from Duro (14) saved by Ter-Stegen and a deflected shot from the Hispanic-Dominican Peter Federico (20), Real Madrid youth player on loan to the ‘Che’ team.
However, Barcelona He came forward with a lateral center from Raphinha to the area used by Lopez. Despite having put the game on track early, it didn’t take long for the Blaugranas to make life difficult for themselves.
A long ball from Valencia I was looking for Hugo Duro and Ter Stegen He left the goal to try to cancel the chance, but the ball bounced off the German goalkeeper and Hard He just had to push the ball into the empty goal.
When Barcelona I was still digesting that mistake, Araújo committed a penalty on Federico, converted perfectly by Pepelu to overtake the visitors.
Barça began to look for danger through the boots of Lamine Yamal, and in a run by the young man towards the rival goal, the Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili He came out of his area and blocked the ball with his forearm, cutting off the rival attack but leaving his team with 10 players throughout the second half.
And after passing through the changing rooms, the festival of Lewandowski, who tied the match by finishing off a corner kick at the near post. After good minutes in which Barça was unable to turn the match around, the Pole headed another aerial pass to put his team ahead again.
“Now we are fine and we can think about the next game against Girona”the Pole told the Spanish broadcaster DAZN about matchday 34, in which the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the League will face each other.
Already in added time, Lewandowski He completed the hat-trick with a direct free kick, against which he could do nothing Jaume Domenech, substitute goalkeeper Mamardashvili. The Polish scorer thus reached 16 goals in the championship this season.
Lewandowski’s goals and Ter Stegen’s blooper in Barcelona
Source: Ambito
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