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regular-article-logo Thursday, 25 April 2024

La Liga: Barcelona net first win

From Lewandowski to Mbappe, goals rain on strikers’ night out in European leagues

Reuters, AP/PTI Madrid Published 23.08.22, 04:26 AM
Robert Lewandowski.

Robert Lewandowski. File Photo

Robert Lewandowski scored a brace as Barcelona cruised to a 4-1 victory at Real Sociedad on Sunday, their first win of the new La Liga season.

Spanish teenage sensation Ansu Fati, who has been struggling to recover after a series of knee surgeries, came off the bench in the second half and took charge of the proceedings with two assists and a goal. The Polish striker scored his first goal in competition for Barcelona when he opened the scoring in the first minute, rifling in a shot after a great pass from Alejandro Balde inside the penalty area.

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But Alexander Isak equalised five minutes later after latching onto a pass from David Silva. Barca struggled to break the deadlock until coach Xavi Hernandez sent on Raphinha and Fati in the 64th minute, with both proving crucial to Barca’s success.

First, Fati assisted Ousmane Dembele with a brilliant heel pass after a fine piece of individual play from Raphinha. Then Fati finished off a beautiful team effort to assist Lewandowski for Barca’s third. Barca’s new signing returned the favour 10 minutes later, enabling 19-year-old Fati to score Barca’s fourth. “He (Lewandowski) is 34 but it looks like he is only 20,” said Pedri, who is 15 years younger than the veteran Poland striker. “It’s crazy all the goals he scores and how he works to help the team.”

Emery beats Simeone Unai Emery’s unsuccessful run against Diego Simeone is finally over. Emery’s 12-match winless streak in the league as a coach against Simeone ended with Villarreal’s 2-0 win at Atlético Madrid. Emery had seven draws and five losses against Simeone, his worst streak against any other coach in the league.

8th-second strike ties record

Kylian Mbappe scored the fastest Ligue 1 goal for 30 years to set champions Paris Saint-Germain on their way to a runaway 7-1 victory at Lille on Sunday.

Mbappe scored after just eight seconds of play, equalling the record set in 1992 by Michel Rio for Caen against Cannes. From kickoff, Neymar played the ball back before receiving it again and passing to Lionel Messi, who spotted Mbappe’s run and hit a superb ball over the top for the French forward.

Mbappe then cleverly lobbed Lille goalkeeper Leo Jardim. PSG coach Christophe Galtier revealed that the club’s Under-19 team had scored from a similar move in the youth league against Salzburg. In that game, Edouard Michut scored after 11 seconds.

Mbappe completed a hattrick while there were two for Neymar, one for Messi and another for Achraf Hakimi.

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