La Liga: Lewandowski, Torres score braces as Barca beat Sevilla 5-1
Barcelona: Braces from Robert Lewandowski and Pablo Torres, as well as a goal from Pedri, earn Barcelona three points as they cruise past Sevilla 5-1 in the La Liga.
Lewandowski’s brace took his tally for the season to an outstanding 12, while Pedri netted a beauty in between. The goals looked to have dried up in the second half. But young Torre had different ideas. Two late goals from him and that was a total return of five from a fantastic day at the office.
Things were a little slow to get started, but in the 24th minutes Lewandowski opened the scoring from the penalty spot. Former La Masia man Peque clumsily brought Raphinha to the ground and the Pole coolly converted the kick.
Sevilla had started brightly, but once they were off the mark, Barca were utterly in command. By half-time it was already 3-0 and the three points were as good as won.
Goal number two came off a blistering counter attack spearheaded by Lamine Yamal, who set things up perfectly for Pedri to curl in the most exquisite of finishes.
Then a long range goal from Raphinha turned out to be another stroke of genius from Lewandowski. The Brazilian’s shot was actually heading wide, but the Pole, onside by the narrowest of margins, had managed to divert it goalwards.
Sevilla never looked convinced that a comeback was even remotely possible and although Dodi Lukebakio had a goal disallowed for offside and fellow Belgian Stanis Idumbo did grab a late consolation, by this stage they were largely on a damage limitation exercise.
And on that front, they were successful, at least for most of the second half. For much as Barca pushed and pushed for more goals, they weren’t forthcoming until the final minutes, when two goals both came from the feet of Pablo Torre.
Having already rifled in on 82 minutes, the youngster then whizzed a free kick goalward. There was some confusion when it appeared that Inigo Martinez had nicked the definitive touch from an offside position, but replays confirmed that he hadn’t made contact with the ball.
A 5-1 victory makes it six wins in a row against Sevilla and an unbeaten run of 18 games against the Andalusians.