Lewandowski The Hero As Catalans Prevail

Robert Lewandowski was the hero in El Sadar on Sunday evening, as FC Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-1 in La Liga.

Barca were lucky not to go a goal down around the half hour mark when Jesus Areso played a clever one-two and cut the ball back for Aimar Oroz.

Luckily Ter Stegen was ready to make a fantastic one-hand save, as Oroz’s effort was surely headed for the back of the net.

Jules Kounde headed home to put the visitors in front in stoppage time, as Ilkay Gundogan picked up his second assist of the season with his perfectly-flighted corner.

A pretty incident-free second half followed as Lewandowski’s struggles in front of goal continued for the most part.

The Pole, who criticized La Liga officiating in an interview on Saturday with a popular outlet from his homeland, was booked in the first 45 and had to be on his best behaviour for the rest of the match.

Coming on as a substitute, Chimy Avila looked to steal the headlines with his stunning equalizer.

How poor Barca were defensively was summed up by the way the ball was allowed to roll to the Argentine unchallenged, and Avila himself encountered few difficulties getting himself into a position to drill his shot past Ter Stegen into the German’s bottom right corner.

Less than five minutes later, Lewandowski timed his run well and won a penalty when brought down in the box.

Just as he was lining up to take the spot kick, however, a VAR review ensued with Barca and their fans perhaps forgiven for thinking that the decision might be overturned.

On the contrary, Alejandro Caetana’s yellow card was turned into a red and the original ruling stood.

At last Lewandowski was allowed to become the hero of the evening, and coolly converted to make it two goals in his last two outings.

The 35-year-old has some way to go to catch up to Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, on five strikes, and put himself in line to reclaim the Pichici award for Spain’s top scorer.

But he at least helped the Catalans cut the lead Los Blancos have over them at the top of the table from five points to two, at the conclusion of what was Barca’s last match before the international break.

On September 16, the Blaugrana return to La Liga action through playing their first home game in a month when they host Real Betis at the Montjuic Stadium.

A few days later, their Champions League debut against Royal Antwerp follows at the same ground.