Barcelona is seated three points behind Atletico, second, who will face Real Madrid in an exciting derby next weekend – an opportunity for Hansi Flick of the team to fill the gap.
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Robert Lewandowski’s strike in the second half helped Barcelona to beat the Alaves 1-0 on Sunday to reduce the gap by Liga Le Real Madrid leaders at four points. The Catalans, third, capitalized with a narrow victory after the champions slipped through the city of Espanyol on Saturday.
Barcelona Trail Second Place Atletico by three points before the Rojiblancos will face Real Madrid in a tasty derby confrontation next weekend, which could allow Hansi Flick of the team to compensate for more land.
Barcelona surmounts the dubious Alavs
Lewandowski tabled a Yamal blade cross to set a hard match in which Alaves has largely frustrated the hosts.
“Before the match, we knew we had to win,” Lewandowski told Movistar. “For us, this is a time when we have fewer points than Atletico and Real Madrid, (but) it is first important that we win and later we can think of their points.
“We have to play well, win, then we can look at the league painting and see how many points we have exactly.”
The Flick team had trouble embarking on the sun from the beginning of the afternoon at the Olympic stadium.
The Catalans barely created anything to note in the first half while the Alaves were stubbornly resist.
A Mazy Lamin Yamal Dribble blade remained fans at the excited house, but there was not much else to raise the pulse.
GAVI and TOMAS CONECHNY D’ALAVES DE BARCELONE were both removed after a ugly collision of heads.
Flick later confirmed that Gavi was in good health.
“He is on the way back and everything is good, nothing has happened,” said the coach.
“Lewandowski is the best new number in the box”
Lewandowski scored a closely wide shot and a low pedri effort was comfortably used by the Alaves goalkeeper Jesus Owono.
Flick brought Frenkie de Jong and Eric Garcia at halftime to try to accelerate Barcelona’s match in possession and the team looked clearer.
Lewandowski sent a sip -looking view of the distant pole shortly before he broke the dead end.
Polish veteran striker produced a poacher finish at close range after Yamal sent a cross towards him to the rear post after 61 minutes.
It was the 18th goal of Lewandowski of the League campaign, extending his advance on Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid as top scorer in the three division.
Flick praised the 36 -year -old striker after his winning contribution from the match.
“This is Lewy’s work, it is the best new number in the box,” Flick told journalists.
“In this difficult match, it was important to us that he was there.”
The curling effort of the substitution of Barça Ferran Torres was rejected by Owono at full speed while the Catalans were trying to make the game safe.
The Flick team could not produce a second, but Alaves, who barely threatened the goal of Wojciech Szczesny, could not go back.
“A game like today is very important,” said Lewandowski.
“We cannot always win with four, five or six goals, sometimes teams like this come who defend deeply and well, but we have a chance if we play with patience, and at the end, we scored a goal more than them so we are very happy.
Athletic Bilbao, fourth, came from behind twice to get a 2-2 draw in Real Betis.
Antony, loaned to the Andalusian team from Manchester United, helped create the first goal during his beginnings in Betis with a shot that was saved, Isco returning the rebound.
Earlier, Ante Bumimir allowed twice to win Osasuna a 2-1 victory against Real Sociedad, who has lost four of his last five games in all competitions.
