By Darwin Largo
Barcelona need a win this Sunday against Alaves at Montjuic to put an end to the criticism. Their performances in recent weeks have been far from expectations and defeats against Real Madrid in La Liga and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League have caused bad feelings. That is why coach Xavi Hernandez had to clarify in last Friday's press conference that they are not going through a crisis and that he trusts his team.
However, things started like in a horror movie. 20 seconds into the first half Alaves were already leading 1-0 thanks to Samu, who scored the opener on the first play of the game. What is curious is that Barcelona had had possession of the ball in the beginning, but lost it and in a quick counterattack the visitors found the goal with a drilled cross that the Spanish striker connected inside the box with his left foot.
This made the task even more difficult for Los Blaugranas, who during the first half failed to score the equaliser and went into the break very worried. But then things changed thanks to Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker netted the goal 7 minutes into the second half with a beautiful header after a cross from Jules Koundé.
Now Bacelona have almost 20 minutes to try to score the second goal and get a victory that will allow them to get closer to the leaders of the standings, Girona, and Real Madrid, who are in second place.
Robert Lewandowski ended a drought of almost two months without scoring goals. His last celebration had been on Saturday, September 23, when he netted twice in the 3-2 win over Celta in Montjuic. A few days later he suffered an ankle injury against Porto in the Champions League that kept him out of several matches. On his return, his level was far from expectations and for that he had received a lot of criticism. But now he saved Barcelona and surely the fans will thank him for his goal this Sunday against Alaves.
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