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A mad night at Montjuic Lewandowski rises above the chaos
Barcelona beat Valencia 4-2 on Monday night in a wild game at Montjuic that featured goals, big mistakes, a penalty, a red card and three points for Xavi?s side.
The Barca boss resisted calls to rotate his squad for this one and saw his team win in the first game since he had announced he?d be staying. They now sit second ahead of a trip to Girona at the weekend.

FC Barcelona 4-2 Valencia #LaLigaHighlights pic.twitter.com/4Tm0D1re3y? FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) April 30, 2024

A mad start saw Barca take the lead, go behind after poor errors from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Ronald Araujo, and then be handed a lifeline when Giorgi Mamardashvili saw red for another moment of madness. The one player who profited enormously from all of the nonsense was Lewandowski who grabbed his first ever La Liga hat-trick thanks to two headers and a lovely free-kick.
Lewandowski had dismissed speculation of an exit before the game and then let his football do the talking. He?s now won Barca 17 points with his goals in LaLiga this season - more than any other player in Spain?s top flight.
Error count totting up for Araujo
Valencia took the lead against Barcelona after Araujo conceded a penalty for a foul on Peter Gonzalez in the box.
The defender has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, following his red card against PSG and his rather disappointing reaction to Ilka...