The Polish striker accounts for nearly 45% of the goals the Catalans have scored in the league this season
Robert Lewandowski was another day decisive for Barcelona. The Polish striker solved a game that had been stifling Barca for many minutes on Saturday, and he did it at the best possible moment, in discount time and with no room for reaction for a Valencia that had resisted his rival’s push up to that point. The former Bayern player has already scored 13 goals in the league this season, representing almost 45% of the goals scored by the Barça team in the domestic league.
It was the 93rd minute and Barcelona began to fret over another heca tomb in the form of a draw away from home, a result that ended a week to be soon forgotten. There were barely three minutes to go when Raphinha made a cross and there came the one who has become a true savior for Xavi Hernández’s side this season. Lewandowski smelled the goal, stretched and connected with a surefire shot that put an end to the Valencian opposition. “He’s one of those players who can score such a decisive goal. Having these 9 is the difference between leaving with one or three points,” Barca sports director Jordi Cruyff acknowledged, pleased with a crucial victory to secure a win. failure in the Champions League.
And it’s that Lewandowski showed up when he was needed the most, something that this course has become a constant. Of the 29 goals Barcelona have scored in the League this season, 13 have been signed by him, or what amounts to the same thing, 44.8% of the goals have been scored by the Pole. ‘Lewy’ numbers are also those of a striker with unusual regularity. He has scored a goal in nine of the twelve matchdays and in six of them he was responsible for opening the can. He opened the scoring against Real Sociedad, Valladolid, Elche, Mallorca, Villarreal and Valencia.
History repeated itself against Valencia and Xavi had no choice but to wake up his team despite Lewandowski coming to the rescue again. “The goal is quality. Robert is here to make a difference, but we need to improve. You have to make better decisions. It could have been a draw and it would have been a drama. It shouldn’t be,” said the culé coach, knowing that this goal in the discount has avoided a major problem in the League after the debacle against Bayern in the Champions League.
The defense, in box
The match against Valencia also left two new players with physical problems in the defence. Eric García had to stop in the 42nd minute after noticing discomfort in the groin area of his left thigh, while Jules Koundé did the same in the 70th minute with the back of his left thigh. The French centre-back ruled out anything serious, but both he and Eric García have been banned from the match against Viktoria Pilsen as there is nothing more at stake than the economic incentive to take a Champions League win.
The place of these two players on the field at Mestalla was first taken by Marcos Alonso and later by Gerard Pique. They are also the top candidates to play in the Czech Republic due to the scourge of injuries in the Barça defence, which currently has Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Jules Koundé, Eric García and Sergi Roberto in dry dock.
Source: La Verdad
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