— (Reuters) On Saturday in LaLiga, the in-form Robert Lewandowski scored once more to earn Barcelona a 1-0 victory at Mallorca.
The home team was superior and had more opportunities to score, but Marc Andre ter Stegen was perfect in net, save shots from Jaume Costa, Antonio Sanchez, and Kang-In Lee.
However, Barcelona capitalised on their lone clear goal opportunity thanks to the brilliance of Lewandowski.
When he sprinted into the box, made a great cut inside to clear a defender, and slid the ball to the goalkeeper’s left in the 20th minute, the Polish striker gave Barca the victory.
Lewandowski, who transferred from Bayern Munich to Barcelona in July, became the first player since Ruud van Nistelrooy of Real Madrid in the 2006–07 campaign to score in six straight LaLiga weeks.
The goal was the eighth in the league and the ninth of the season for the Pole.
Since Christian Vieri joined Atletico Madrid in 1997, no player has ever started LaLiga play with eight goals in his first seven games.
With 19 points after their victory over Osasuna, Barcelona now leads Real Madrid by one. Real Madrid still has a game in hand and will face Osasuna on Sunday in an effort to retake the lead.
Mallorca has eight points after seven games and is now ranked tenth.
Mallorca left back Jaume Costa told Movistar Plus, “It’s a shame playing such a complete game as we did against one of the top teams in the world and not being able to walk out with at least a point.”
After a number of important players returned from international duty with injury, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez faced a significant challenge in choosing his matchday lineup.
Ansu Fati, a teenager, received his first league start from Xavi and his second of the year.
The 19-year-old started the move that resulted in Barca’s goal by seizing the ball on the left and passed to Lewandowski as he battled his way back from four surgeries to address an injury to his left knee sustained in late 2020.
Ter Stegen, however, was the reason Barcelona was able to prevail.
In the 35th minute, he produced an outstanding knee save to stop Jaume Costa from scoring with his first touch from close range.
Following the half, Mallorca continued to exert pressure, and the German goalkeeper was once more on hand to prevent an equaliser by blocking an Antonio Sanchez attempt from within the area. Just before the final horn, he returned to stop Kang-In Lee and secure the three points.
Ter Stegen said to Movistar Plus, “It’s hard to come back from the international break, we struggled but it’s wonderful that we came out with the win.”
“The main thing is the win, not the score or how we earned it,”
At Mallorca, Lewandowski scored to give Barcelona a 1-0 victory.
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