April 30, (THEWILL)- Barcelona completed a remarkable turnaround to beat 10-man Valencia 4-2 at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Saturday. Despite trailing 2-1 at the break, Xavi’s side rallied in the second half, with Robert Lewandowski netting a hat-trick to secure all three points.
The visitors had taken a shock lead in the first half after Hugo Duro’s equalised Fermin Lopez’s opener and Pepelu netted a penalty for a Ronald Araújo’s foul. However, the match turned on Mamardashvili’s red card for handling outside the area. Lewandowski swiftly capitalised, heading home from Ä°lkay Gundogan’s corner.
Piling on the pressure against the 10 men of Valencia, Barcelona hit the front through another Lewandowski header from a Gundogan corner. The Polish striker then curled home a superb free-kick in stoppage time to complete his hat-trick and seal a 4-2 victory.
The comeback win sees Barcelona leapfrog Girona into second place before next weekend’s crunch clash between the two sides. For Valencia, back-to-back defeats dent their hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.