MADRID — On Sunday, Barcelona secured a narrow 1-0 victory against Alaves, thanks to a decisive second-half goal from Robert Lewandowski. This win propelled the Catalan club closer to the top of the Spanish league, now trailing rivals Real Madrid by just four points.
Lewandowski commented on the match, stating, “It’s not every time that we will be able to score three, four or five goals in a game. We had to be patient and in the end we did what we had to do, which was to score one more goal than our opponent.”
Real Madrid faced a setback on Saturday, losing 1-0 to Espanyol, which snapped their streak of 10 victories in their last 11 matches across all competitions. Currently, Barcelona sits in third place, three points behind Atletico Madrid, who ended a two-match winless run with a 2-0 victory over Mallorca on the same day.
Lewandowski emphasized the importance of this win, explaining, “We knew we had to win this match. We needed the victory. We had lost too many points in the league already.” Barcelona’s performance was unexpectedly low-scoring, especially considering they had netted 14 goals in their previous three matches, including a staggering 7-1 victory over Valencia.
The Polish striker found the back of the net from close range after Lamine Yamal’s shot deflected off a defender. Lewandowski has been in remarkable form, scoring in each of his last four matches and tallying seven goals in his last eight games.
Yamal showcased his skills early in the match, dazzling fans by evading six defenders before Raphinha’s shot went wide. Alaves struggled throughout the match, failing to register a single shot on target and remaining in the relegation zone. They have managed to secure only one victory in their last 11 matches across all competitions.
In the first half, both teams had to cope with injuries as Barcelona’s Gavi and Alaves’ Tomás Conechny were substituted after a head collision approximately ten minutes into the match held at Montjuic Stadium. Gavi was able to walk off the field, but Conechny required stretcher assistance and was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Alaves later reported that Conechny suffered from head trauma and was expected to stay overnight at the hospital.
In another match, Valencia, sitting second-to-last in the league, bounced back from their humiliating 7-1 defeat at Barcelona by clinching a 2-1 home win against Celta Vigo, who remains winless in their last five fixtures across all competitions. This victory marked Valencia’s first consecutive home wins in the league this season, having also triumphed 1-0 over Real Sociedad a few rounds ago.
Seventh-placed Osasuna celebrated a 2-1 home triumph against 11th-placed Sociedad, with Ante Budimir scoring in both halves. This defeat marked Sociedad’s third consecutive league loss, while Osasuna broke a nine-match winless streak, with their last league victory recorded against last-placed Valladolid back in November.
