“I was surprised that this year we didn’t score more goals from set pieces, we have very good shooters. Today they give us three golden points, these situations are becoming more and more important in modern football,” Xavi Hernández highlighted to his work team, in charge of strategy plays: three goals against Valencia and he has 11 in the campaign. After the work of his staffeven when in the midst of the negotiations for his continuity from the club there was talk of changes in assistants, Xavi vindicated his collaborators.
No one, in any case, benefited from the strategy as much as Lewandowski. “I only have 16 goals, but if we have more scoring chances, it is easier for me. This is the first step. If the whole team plays well, it’s easier for me. What matters is that we work and win everything,” said the Pole, who scored two headed goals against Valencia, something that had not happened for Barcelona in the League since 2005, when Samuel Eto’o scored two headers against Mallorca.
Lewandowski looked twice at the Barcelona fans. In both cases, after his first two goals that had sealed the Catalans’ comeback against Valencia, he asked the Montjuïc stands for encouragement: 30,167, the worst entry of the season, on a day marked by the cold and wind in the Olympic Stadium. In the third, already calmer with the score at 4-2, he relaxed. And he even celebrated with Araujo, the two of them with their classic fist coke celebration. “It wasn’t easy…” the Pole started. “In the first half we didn’t have many spaces. But the important thing is that we are Barça and we know that, although we concede two goals, we can score three or four goals. If we score goals, everything is easier.”
Before Mamardashvili was sent off at the end of the first half, Barcelona had attempted three shots on goal. Valencia, too. “I don’t know what would have happened if we had been eleven against eleven, but Barça always pushes a lot,” analyzed Baraja, coach of the Valencian team. He did not want, in any case, to justify the defeat in the work of the referee, who interpreted that Fermín’s offside did not affect Doménech in the third goal, as well as that there was no foul by Iñigo Martínez on Peter. “I don’t think they have harmed us. They are two curious actions, but we have not materialized the opportunities we have had,” added the Valencia coach.
Mamardashvili’s mistake rescued Araujo (penalty against Peter Federico), as well as Ter Stegen (he tried to chip the ball at Hugo Duro and the action ended with the Valencia striker scoring). “Araujo and we all have to correct. We are talking about very young players, what happened this season should serve as a lesson for us and there are details that we have to control. Araujo has saved us on many occasions too,” defended Xavi. And he added: “He is a player very loved by the squad. It is normal that everyone went to support him after the mistake.”
The spaces created by Mamardashvili’s expulsion were Lewandowski’s fuel. “We knew that we had to play with patience in the second half, but we didn’t need to touch the ball so much, but rather to reach the zone with the last pass. “We are good now and we must think against Girona,” the forward concluded.
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