BARCELONA: Scorching Robert Lewandowski and Pablo Torre struck two times each as Barcelona pounded Sevilla 5-1 on Sunday to remain three focuses clear of Genuine Madrid at the highest point of La Liga in front of the following end of the week’s Clasico.
Atletico Madrid, third, overcame a deficit to defeat Leganes, a neighboring team, 3-1 earlier thanks to a double from Alexander Sorloth.
Genuine beat Celta Vigo on Saturday to pull level with Hansi Flick’s side however Barca quickly reestablished their benefit with a slick and predominant showcase of going after football.
At the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium, Barca dominated the entire match and effectively ended it with three goals in 15 first-half minutes, starting with a Lewandowski penalty in the 24th minute after Raphinha was fouled from behind.
Four minutes later, Pedri extended their lead with a bullet strike from the edge of the box into the top corner. In the 39th minute, Lewandowski scored the third goal for the Catalan team, making it 12 league goals in 10 games.
In the second half, Torre came off the bench to score the fourth goal with a shot from inside the box in the 82nd minute. In the 87th minute, Torre completed the scoring with a free kick into the far corner following Stanis Idumbo’s goal for Sevilla.
As they prepare for a challenging week that includes a matchup with Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday and a trip to face rival Real on Saturday, Barcelona’s victory over Sevilla was their ninth in their last ten La Liga games.
Pedri stated to Movistar Plus, “Winning like this is very important for the games to come.” Today we needed to leave with something beyond the three focuses, we wanted that positive sentiment we got. We took advantage of the spaces that were provided for us by the coach at the box’s edge.
Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone had a tough time playing the underdogs from the south of Madrid, but after Yvan Neyou scored to put the visitors ahead, Sorloth scored a fine equalizer and Antoine Griezmann scored the second.
With a poacher’s finish, Norwegian target man Sorloth secured the victory late in overtime.
According to Simeone’s statement to Movistar, “we improved a bit in the second half, especially in speeding up the game.”
Atletico, who will confront Lille in the Bosses Association on Wednesday, moved to third in the standings on 20 focuses, four behind Genuine.
