Lewandowski hat trick gives Barcelona comeback victory over Valencia

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona survived a tough first half to beat Valencia 4-2 with the assistance of a second half hat trick from Robert Lewandowski and a purple card to Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili on Monday.

On a wet evening in Catalonia, the house aspect dominated possession however was behind on the break attributable to two defensive errors.

Fermín López put Barcelona forward with a stunning glancing header halfway by means of the primary half.

Valencia levelled simply 5 minutes later because of a woeful intervention from keeper Marc Ter Stegen. He intercepted an extended ball 25 yards from his purpose however he tried to be too fancy and Hugo Duro simply dispossessed him and ran the ball into the empty internet.

Earlier than halftime, Valencia took the lead thanks to a different elementary mistake. Ronald Araújo’s mistimed sort out felled Peter Federico within the field and Pepelu coolly transformed the spot kick.

The steadiness of the match modified moments earlier than the break when Mamardashvili used a hand exterior the field to thwart a scoring likelihood by Lamine Yamal and was red-carded.

Lewandoski headed an equalizer from a nook kick after 50 minutes. Nevertheless, it took Barcelona till the 82nd to regain the lead from one other Lewandowski header after Valencia didn’t clear one other nook.

The hat trick got here within the third minute of stoppage time from a 25-yard free kick.

“It wasn’t straightforward,” Lewandowski stated. “Within the first half we didn’t discover any house in assault.”

Barcelona changed Girona in second place and was 11 factors behind Actual Madrid. Madrid wants 5 from its final 5 matches to ensure a thirty sixth Spanish league title.

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