Staff Reporter.
Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Barcelona re-established a three-point lead at the top of La Liga with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Girona at the Olympic Stadium.
Ladislav Krejci’s own goal had given the hosts a deserved first-half lead against their Catalan rivals, who threatened to cause a shock when Arnaut Danjuma levelled against the run of play early in the second half.
However, Lewandowski put Hansi Flick’s side back ahead just after the hour mark with an improvised finish, and he then scored his 25th league goal of the season after some fine midfield play from substitute Frenkie de Jong.
Ferran Torres rounded off the scoring late on with a low effort into the bottom corner.
“I know a lot of people talk about my age, but I work as hard as I did when I was 21 and I want to play for more seasons,” Lewandowski said with a smile. “At the moment I’m feeling great physically and if you look at the numbers, they’re the same as they’ve always been.”
It was the perfect response from Barcelona, who watched their great foes Real Madrid fight back to beat Leganes and move level on points at the summit of the Spanish top flight on Saturday.
“It’s very clear to see that when they had the ball this afternoon, it wasn’t easy for us. We knew we were up against a great team,” Danjuma said.
“After I scored, I thought we could take something from the game, we could pressure them a little bit more. But then they got their second, they got their third…and then it became very difficult.”
Flick’s team have now won their past nine matches in La Liga and will head into Wednesday’s second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final with Atletico Madrid – finely balanced at 4-4 – full of confidence.