Goals from Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Eric Garcia were more than enough for Barcelona to wrap up a comfortable 3-0 win at struggling Sevilla on Saturday.
The victory vaults Barcelona into second place, behind LaLiga defending champions Real Madrid, after four rounds of matches. Meanwhile, Sevilla’s latest bad result — their third defeat in four games to open the 2022-23 campaign — leaves them one place above the bottom three.
Barcelona didn’t start the game with the control that coach Xavi Hernandez craves, but their front three were so efficient they got away with it as they kept on Real Madrid’s tails at the top of LaLiga.
Led by Lewandowski once again, Barca recovered from a slow start at the Sanchez Pizjuan to blow Sevilla away inside the opening 35 minutes. The first goal came on the counterattack, with Ousmane Dembele feeding Lewandowski, whose chipped finish was scrambled off the line only for Raphinha to head home the rebound from close range.
Lewandowski made it two before the break, controlling and finishing brilliantly after being picked out by Jules Kounde, who was returning to his former club after a €55 million summer move.
Lewandowski now has five goals in his past three games and while Polish striker wasn’t involved in the third, the lively Raphinha was. The Brazilian’s deep cross was headed back across goal by Kounde, who claimed his second assist of the night when Eric Garcia turned home what was his first-ever goal in professional football.
With Real Madrid making it four wins from four against Real Betis earlier Saturday, Barca, two points back, will need their front three — and their replacements, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres here — to keep firing if they want to keep up with Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
