Lewandowski unlocked Mendizorroza’s fortress in the blink of an eye and made a match that looked difficult after El Sadar’s bad experience very easy. The striker scored three goals in half an hour and now has 52 since he debuted in the League, 12 in the 11 games of the season, always a striker against Alavés, who had not lost at home since March, when Real won. The Pole became the final point of a team so accurate and forceful that it did not need the intervention of Lamine Yamal. The franchise player was Raphinha. The Brazilian feels important since he is captain and won over Flick. With Olmo absent, Raphinha is today the star signing, a condition that in the preseason seemed reserved for Nico Williams.
0
Antonio Sivera, Abdel Abqar (Adrián Pica, min. 66), Manu Sánchez, Nahuel Tenaglia (Moussa Diarra, min. 45), Santiago Mouriño, Carlos Vicente, Stoichkov (Tomás Conechny, min. 56), Abde Rebbach, Ander Guevara, Antonio Blanco (Joan Jordán, min. 77) and Toni Martínez (Kike García, min. 56)
3
Iñaki Peña, Pau Cubarsí, Alejandro Balde (Frenkie de Jong, min. 80), Héctor Fort (Jules Koundé, min. 66), Iñigo Martínez (Gerard Martín, min. 80), Raphinha, Ferran Torres (Eric García, min. 5), Pedri, Marc Casadó, Lamine Yamal (Ansu Fati, min. 66) and Robert Lewandowski
Goals
0-1 min. 6: Lewandowski. 0-2 min. 21: Lewandowski. 0-3 min. 31: Lewandowski
Referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias
Nahuel Tenaglia (min. 30), Santiago Mouriño (min. 53), Íñigo Martínez (min. 53), Gerard Martín (min. 85)
Aggressive and direct football, very German-style, suits Raphinha and Lewandowski wonderfully, protagonists of the afternoon in Vitoria. Nothing to do with Pamplona. The Blaugrana were chastened on Navarrese soil and were no longer surprised against Alavés when it came to securing the lead and a three-point advantage before the League break. Flick’s lineup offered no doubts unlike the one exposed against Osasuna.
No one was missing but Koundé. Flick rested the only player who had not entered the rotations, recovered Héctor Fort, who was rusting as a substitute, and insisted on Ferran, a striker more appreciated without the ball than with the shot, a complementary player in a team with half of La Masia footballers. Ferran, however, broke down as soon as he started and was replaced by Eric. An apparently substantial change that did not change Flick’s plan. The intensity with which he took to the field did not diminish nor the reliability from set pieces seen against Young Boys in the Champions League.
Raphinha took a free kick from the right and Lewandowski finished half with his shoulder and half with his head to make it 0-1. Barça played short and long, increasingly pressed by Alavés, always supported by a fan that filled Mendizorroza. The Barça hole was behind the centre-backs and in front of goalkeeper Peña. A difficult area to defend because the substitute goalkeeper’s feet are not the same as Ter Stegen’s. Despite Peña’s doubts, the crux of the match was in the Alavés field. The pressure from Luis García’s team enabled Barça to counter. A fertile ground for Raphinha’s unchecking and career. The Brazilian, undetectable to the opponent, has become Barça’s flagship player.
Assisting in the 0-1, Raphinha also gave Lewandowski the 0-2 in a race into space on the left wing, after a recovery by Pedri. The variety of Barça resources is very wide if one takes into account that the 0-3 came in a precise combination by Casadó and Eric finished with a control and cross shot by Lewandowski. Three very different goals with the same outcome to the astonishment of Mendizorroza. The match had been finished in half an hour because Alavés could not find a way to avoid the offside line set by Barça. Pedri, meanwhile, never tired of playing and forgot to score, only on a couple of occasions against Sivera.
The Blaugrana do not know how to play without tension, or rest with the ball, dispersed when they are not looking at the opposing goal, so they indulge in a boring exercise for the spectator and permissive for the opponent, Alavés knowing of Peña’s weakness in probably his last game before being replaced by Szczesny. The match was consumed by an assortment of corner kicks from Alavés. The play ended in a corner, a block or an offside, never with a kick.
Lamine left without leaving a mark, surprisingly absent and weak since he was substituted against Young Boys. The interest focused on Ansu Fati and his duel with Sivera. The goalkeeper and the post denied the striker the goal when Casadó was enough to support Barça and defend his status as a midfielder even against De Jong. The return to the competition, after the national team break, looks exciting for the leader because there are several who are waiting for the round after leaving the infirmary and the next rivals are Sevilla, Bayern and Madrid.
