Barcelona restore their three-point benefit over Actual Madrid on the prime of LaLiga with a 4-1 dwelling win in opposition to Girona.
Barcelona thumped guests Girona 4-1 within the Catalan soccer derby after Robert Lewandowski netted twice within the second half to maneuver Hansi Flick’s facet three factors away from Actual Madrid, who beat Leganes 3-2 on Saturday, on the prime of LaLiga.
Sunday’s victory moved Barcelona to 66 factors from 29 video games as 36-year-old Lewandowski – who scored twice after the rating was tied at 1-1 – prolonged his tally on the prime of LaLiga’s scoring chart to 25 objectives, three away from Actual Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe.
“I do know lots of people discuss my age, however I work as arduous as I did once I was 21 and I need to play for extra seasons,” Lewandowski mentioned with a smile.
“In the mean time I’m feeling nice bodily, and in the event you take a look at the numbers, they’re the identical as they’ve all the time been.”
Barcelona predictably dominated the opening levels as Fermin Lopez and Lewandowski examined Paulo Gazzaniga in Girona’s purpose with two early pictures.
Moments later, Lopez went down on the sting of the field and the referee awarded a free kick. However when VAR requested him to evaluate his resolution for a possible penalty, he gave Girona a free kick as an alternative, a lot to the shock of the Barcelona gamers.
Jules Kounde had a purpose disallowed when he strayed offside as Girona had no reply to Barca’s forays into the field. However Gazzaniga stood sturdy to disclaim the house facet again and again, making 4 essential saves within the first half alone.
The Argentine keeper might solely stand and watch, nevertheless, when Yamal’s free kick was deflected off Girona defender Ladislav Krejci for an personal purpose two minutes earlier than the break.
Girona struck again after the restart in opposition to the run of play after they received the ball again in midfield and Dutch ahead Arnaut Danjuma curled his shot previous Wojciech Szczesny in purpose.
Barcelona didn’t panic and so they restored their lead simply after the hour-mark when Lopez headed a ball throughout the field and Lewandowski transformed with an acrobatic end on the far submit.
Lewandowski then made it 3-1 within the 77th minute from a counterattack when Frenkie de Jong discovered him within the field and the Polish striker curled a low shot previous Gazzaniga.
Substitute Ferran Torres made it 4-1 when he expertly managed a cross from the wing with a elegant first contact earlier than discovering the underside nook. Then Yamal almost made it 5, solely to see his curling shot cannon off the crossbar.
“It’s very clear to see that after they had the ball this afternoon, it wasn’t straightforward for us. We knew we have been up in opposition to an awesome group,” Danjuma mentioned of Barcelona.
“After I scored, I believed we might take one thing from the sport, we might stress them somewhat bit extra. However then they acquired their second, they acquired their third… after which it grew to become very tough.”
