Lewandowski proves Xavi still needs him as Barcelona complete Valencia comeback
Barcelona 4-2 Valencia
In the first game back since Xavi Hernandez confirmed his U-turn on his Barcelona future, there were rumours that he was considering dropping Robert Lewandowski before the match. The Polish striker made it clear that while he might not be at the peak of his career, he is still a cut above his alternatives, against an organised Valencia.
Barcelona started off well, with Fermin Lopez rising to power home a Joao Cancelo cross just after 20 minutes, in Cristiano Ronaldo-esque fashion. Just before though, Peter Federico had rolled a one-on-one chance wide, having exploited the space in behind.
Shortly after, Marc-Andre ter Stegen came out to collect a ball in behind, electing to lift the ball over Hugo Duro, but failing to do so properly. The ex-Getafe forward collected the ball and rolled past a desperate Ronald Araujo into an empty net.
Not long after, Peter had beaten the high line again, and Araujo decided it was all or nothing, wiping out the on-loan Real Madrid forward in the box. Pepelu converted his penalty, and put Los Che in front with five minutes to go until the break. However Giorgi Mamardashvili’s own erroneous touch led to Lamine Yamal nearly capitalising, had a big Georgian arm not prevented the ball going past him just into stoppage time. Mamardashvili was given a straight red and Jaume Domenech sent on to make a save from a Raphinha free-kick with his first touch.
Xavi reacted, sending on Inigo Martinez and Sergi Roberto for experience over Pau Cubarsi and Andreas Christensen. Five minutes later, Lewandowski flicked home a corner, with Fermin avoiding a call for offside interference in front of Domenech.
The game hit something of a lull, before Pedri was sent on with 20 minutes to go. The
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