Lewandowski’s Hat Trick Moves Barcelona Closer To League Leader Real Madrid

Robert Lewandowski scored a hat trick to help Barcelona gain ground on Real Madrid in the Spanish league on Sunday. After Madrid was held by Rayo Vallecano to a 0-0 draw its second consecutive setback following a Champions League loss at Liverpool. Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal led Barcelona to a 4-2 victory at Celta Vigo to move the Catalan club within three points of the lead.

Villarreal, which won 2-0 at Espanyol on Saturday for its third league victory in a row, stayed in third place, five points behind Madrid. Atletico Madrid, which beat Levante 3-1 at home on Saturday, was fourth, six points off the lead.

Barcelona’s offensive struggles continued, it has conceded 16 goals in its last eight matches and hasn’t had a clean sheet since September, but the attack came through again to secure the team’s victory on the road.

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“We made some mistakes, but we did much better in the second half, with more control of the ball and the game, and we defended much better,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said. The result halted Celta’s five-game winning streak across all tournaments.

It was a frantic first-half in Vigo, with Celta twice rallying after goals by Lewandowski. Yamal put the visitors ahead in first-half stoppage time, and Lewandowski sealed the victory in the 73rd.

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Lewandowski, who has missed playing time this season because of injury, hadn’t scored for Barcelona since September in a league win against Real Sociedad.

“In the end we are very happy because we won a very difficult game,” Lewandowski said. “Here it’s always difficult to play.” Sergio Carreira and Borja Iglesias scored for Celta. Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong was sent off in second-half stoppage time after being shown a second yellow card.