April 30, (THEWILL)- Barcelona completed a remarkable turnaround to beat 10-man Valencia 4-2 at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Saturday. Despite trailing 2-1 at the break, Xavi’s side rallied in the second half, with Robert Lewandowski netting a hat-trick to secure all three points.
The visitors had taken a shock lead in the first half after Hugo Duro’s equalised Fermin Lopez’s opener and Pepelu netted a penalty for a Ronald Araújo’s foul. However, the match turned on Mamardashvili’s red card for handling outside the area. Lewandowski swiftly capitalised, heading home from İlkay Gundogan’s corner.
Piling on the pressure against the 10 men of Valencia, Barcelona hit the front through another Lewandowski header from a Gundogan corner. The Polish striker then curled home a superb free-kick in stoppage time to complete his hat-trick and seal a 4-2 victory.
The comeback win sees Barcelona leapfrog Girona into second place before next weekend’s crunch clash between the two sides. For Valencia, back-to-back defeats dent their hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
