Barcelona restore their three-point benefit over Actual Madrid on the high of LaLiga with a 4-1 residence win towards 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 aspect three factors away from Actual Madrid, who beat Leganes 3-2 on Saturday, on the high 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 high of LaLiga’s scoring chart to 25 targets, three away from Actual Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe.
“I do know lots of people speak about my age, however I work as arduous as I did after I was 21 and I need to play for extra seasons,” Lewandowski mentioned with a smile.
“For the time being I’m feeling nice bodily, and if you happen to take a look at the numbers, they’re the identical as they’ve at all times been.”
Barcelona predictably dominated the opening phases as Fermin Lopez and Lewandowski examined Paulo Gazzaniga in Girona’s objective 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 assessment his choice 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 objective 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 aspect again and again, making 4 essential saves within the first half alone.
The Argentine keeper may solely stand and watch, nonetheless, when Yamal’s free kick was deflected off Girona defender Ladislav Krejci for an personal objective two minutes earlier than the break.
Girona struck again after the restart towards the run of play once they gained the ball again in midfield and Dutch ahead Arnaut Danjuma curled his shot previous Wojciech Szczesny in objective.
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 publish.
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 go 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 once they had the ball this afternoon, it wasn’t straightforward for us. We knew we have been up towards an excellent crew,” Danjuma mentioned of Barcelona.
“After I scored, I assumed we may take one thing from the sport, we may stress them a little bit bit extra. However then they bought their second, they bought their third… after which it turned very troublesome.”
