A comedy of errors at the Olympic Montjuic Stadium tonight as Barcelona hosted Valencia for gameweek 33 of La Liga.
The Catalans were pushing for a spot in next season’s Spanish Super Cup, and ahead of their game vs Girona next weekend, nothing short of a win would have sufficed tonight.
Fermin Lopez was the star of the show in the first-half, and came up with the goods at the first time of asking with a spectacular header from a Raphinha cross.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Ronald Araujo did not let Barça’s lead stand for too long, though, with the former giving away the ball in front of an open goal, and the latter conceding a penalty.
Robert Lewandowski came up clutch in the second-half, though, scoring two headers from two set-pieces and getting Barcelona all three points.
The Pole did not stop at his second, though, and took over free-kick duties from Ferran Torres late in the game to score a beautiful free-kick to ensure his second hattrick in Barcelona colours.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen: 2.5
Ter Stegen made a huge mistake that started the downhill trend of the game as he was unnecessarily tried to chip Hugo Duro, but was caught out.
Jules Kounde: 7
More than decent in possession, Kounde was in the right place at the right time more often than not on both ends of the pitch. Stopped a counter-attack or two single-handedly, and aided Fermin and Yamal going forward.
Ronald Araujo: 6
Much like the PSG game, Araujo made another emotionally-charged challenge – on Peter Gonzalez -, that led to a penalty. He was having a rather solid game before that, too.
Had several attempts at goal through corners while trying to make up for his error, and eventually came up with the assist for Lewandowski’s goal – completely unintentionally, though.
Pau Cubarsi: 5
Uncharacteristically sloppy in possession, Cubarsi looked far from his best tonight. Was replaced at the break for Inigo Martinez.
Joao Cancelo: 6
Decent going forward, Cancelo was able to take up the…
Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/barcelona-2-4-valencia-player-ratings/
Author : Udhav Arora
Publish date : 2024-04-29 21:05:03
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