Until the game against Valencia, Barcelona marksman, Robert Lewandowski, had scored 13 goals in the 29 games he had featured this season in La Liga.
The 35-year-old former Bayern Munich striker hasn’t scored as many goals this season as he’s known for, scoring 16 La Liga goals compared to last season where he hit the ground running with 23 goals in the league and won the Pichichi trophy.
All the same, the forward has broken the long-standing record held by Samuel Eto’o of the highest number of goals scored by a Barcelona player in 50 matches with 35 goals. In a recent interview, he expressed his intention to remain in Barcelona a little longer.
Barcelona Starts On The Front Foot
In Barcelona’s first La Liga match since Xavi announced he’d be staying beyond the end of the season as Barcelona head coach, Barcelona started on the front foot with A cross from Rafinha finding the head of Fermín López in the 21st minute of the game and the back of the net to give Barcelona the lead in the first half.
This was Fermín’s 5th goal this season after playing the whole of last season in the third tier of the Spanish football league system.
Valencia Launches A Turnaround
In the 27th minute, Hugo Duro broke the offside trap to run through on goal after a lobbed pass from Peter. Marc-André ter Stegen got to the ball before the attacker but fumbled an effort to lob the player and with Hugo Duro facing an empty net, he equalized for Valencia.
The goal was reviewed by VAR but inevitably stood. Seven minutes later, Ronald Araujo fouled Peter in the box and Valencia was awarded a penalty. Pepelu Garcia stepped forward and dispatched the ball down the middle of the net in a cracker of a La Liga match.
Hat-trick Sparks La Liga Match Comeback
La noche de Lewandowski: pic.twitter.com/qepzTaYG5S
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 29, 2024
During injury time in the first half, Valencia goalkeeper, Mamardashvili, made a heavy touch after receiving a back pass from his defender. Lamine Lamal attacked the loose ball and forced the goalkeeper into handling the ball outside the box. VAR stopped the game for a review and sent the referee to the screen. As a result, the referee awarded a free kick and gave the goalkeeper his marching orders.
Four minutes into the second half, Lewandowski equalized for Barcelona from a Gundogan corner and sparked life into the team. After a VAR review, the goal stood.
With Barcelona looking to secure all three points to maintain a lead over Girona on the La Liga table, Gundogan took another corner with the game winding down in the 82 minutes. Araujo and the Valencia goalkeeper attacked together. The ball deflected into the path of Lewandowski and he headed Barcelona in front at the Estadi Olímpic Stadium.
He completed his first La Liga hat-trick in the 93rd minute with a well-taken free kick to ensure the three points were safe for Barcelona.
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Ebenezer has been an avid writer for over a decade and a half. Within that period, he has garnered experience in various fields such as editing, graphics design, transcribing, sales, data analysis, and football management.
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