Robert Lewandowski was the star of the show for Barcelona as the prolific Pole netted a first-half hat-trick in a comfortable 3-0 victory at Alaves on Sunday that keeps Hansi Flick's side three points clear at the top of La Liga.
Blaugrana captain Raphinha, who has been in dazzling form of late, was also at his mercurial best as the Brazilian playmaker pulled the strings for Barca, and the South American thought that he had opened the scoring inside four minutes, but his effort was chalked off as teenage wonderkid Lamine Yamal strayed marginally offside in the build-up.
Barca lost Ferran Torres to an early injury, but took the lead in the seventh minute when Lewandowski glanced home a Raphinha free-kick – taking him to 50 goals in total for the Catalan giants in La Liga. Lewandowski grabbed his second in the 22nd minute, when being teed up by Raphinha again for a tap-in, and claimed another match ball just past the half-hour mark when rolling into the bottom corner after being played through by Eric Garcia.
Alaves did pose a threat during lapses in Barca’s concentration – with VAR ruling out one effort on the stroke of half-time, before the woodwork was struck early in the second 45. Flick, though, was able to rest Yamal during the second half, with the visitors easing to a comfortable win.
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