Lewan leads the way as Barca regains advantage

BARCELONA — Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace, as Barcelona eased to a 4-1 victory over Girona to move three points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday.

After second-placed Real Madrid pulled level on points on Saturday by beating Leganes, Hansi Flick's side restored its advantage at the Olympic Stadium.

And Lewandowski responded to Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe's double with one of his own to stay three goals ahead in the race for Spain's golden boot.

"When you score four times it means you played a great match," Lewandowski said. "We've been scoring a lot, and it's important that when we don't score early, we have been patient and not changed our game plan."

Flick praised the "special" striker.

"Lewandowski is really important," Flick said. "I don't like to pick out individuals, but he is special inside the box."

Barcelona, unbeaten this year in 20 matches, took the lead through a Ladislav Krejci own goal near the end of the first half.

Arnaut Danjuma pulled Girona level, but Lewandowski netted twice and Ferran Torres finished off the rout.

"We played with patience, we had a plan, and if we play with that plan, we can always score a lot of goals and win the game," the veteran striker told DAZN.

The 36-year-old said he had the legs to keep playing for seasons to come.

"I know a lot of people are talking about my age, but I want to play more years at the top level," said the Poland international.

"I feel very good physically, I think looking at the stats, there's no difference now to a few years ago."

Girona beat Barcelona twice last season, but has struggled to hit those heights again and sits 13th.

"They were superior," admitted Girona coach Michel Sanchez.

"There's a difference between the teams and that's the truth. Barcelona dreams of titles every year."

Flick rotated some of his usual lineup, with the Copa del Rey semifinal clash against Atletico Madrid in mind.

Despite dominating, Barcelona wasn't quite at its free-flowing best in the first half, occasionally threatening through the dynamic running of teenage star Lamine Yamal and frantic energy of Fermin Lopez.

Barcelona wanted a penalty when Lopez was brought down by Yaser Asprilla on the edge of the box, but only a freekick was awarded.

A VAR review showed that the contact was inside the area, but the referee decided that Lopez fouled Asprilla as they came together, much to Barcelona's chagrin.

Breakthrough

Paulo Gazzaniga produced a sensational save with his fingertips to push out a Ronald Araujo header, but Barca found a way through before halftime.

Yamal's dangerous freekick, aimed at Eric Garcia, was deflected by Krejci into his own net at the near post.

Girona had produced very little of note in the first half, but was back level eight minutes into the second through Danjuma.

Daley Blind played his Dutch compatriot through, and he beat Wojciech Szczesny with a clinical low finish.

However, Barcelona was swiftly back in front, as La Liga's top goalscorer Lewandowski notched his 24th of the campaign.

Lopez nodded the ball across the six-yard box and Lewandowski contorted his body to reach it and flick it between Gazzaniga's legs.

The forward secured Barcelona's victory with his 25th, slotting home after substitute Frenkie de Jong pushed forward into space and fed him the ball.

There was time for Torres to add a fourth after Gerard Martin found him, and for the brilliant Yamal to bend a strike against the crossbar.

This was remarkably the 20th time this season Flick's side has scored four goals or more from 45 games, with a potential treble in its sights.

"This is what I love about my team, they always want to score goals, it's always like that," Flick told reporters.

"This is the mentality and the attitude of the team and it's good, I think everyone loves it, you love it, the fans love it, the club loves it, and everyone is happy at the moment."

Elsewhere, fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao was held to a 0-0 draw at home by Osasuna, allowing Villarreal to cut the gap on it to six points after beating Getafe 2-1.

Real Betis, sixth, won its sixth game in a row to stay on Villarreal's tail, beating rival Sevilla 2-1.

Valencia's 1-0 win over Mallorca took it to 15th, four points clear of the relegation zone.

Agencies