Valencia vs Barcelona, La Liga: Final Score 1-2, Robert Lewandowski scores brace as Barça clinch hard-fought comeback win in season opener

The Hansi Flick Era is off to a successful start as Barcelona began the 2024-25 La Liga season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium on Saturday night. Barça fell behind but equalized almost immediately in a wild sequence late in the first half, and took the lead early in the second to claim all three points thanks to two Robert Lewandowski goals and a solid team performance.

FIRST HALF

The opening period started very slowly, with Barça having more of the ball and doing a solid job of progressing it through the lines but unable to break down Valencia’s low block. The home team then started to exploit the space in behind the Blaugrana’s backline, and began creating real danger on the counter.

Barça’s only good moments came with shots from distance early on, and their strong initial showing slowly deteriorated as Valencia continued to frustrate the visitors and wreak havoc on the counter. The hosts had all of the momentum towards the end, and took the lead when Diego López’s cross from the left wing found Hugo Duro all alone in the box for an easy header.

Valencia’s goal came in the 44th minute and it appeared as though the hosts would take a lead into the break, but Duro’s header started a wild five-minute stretch in added time: Marc Casadó had a sure-fire goal cleared off the line by Yarek, then Duro almost scored his second before Pau Cubarsí came up with a miraculous goal-line clearance of his own, and Lamine Yamal assisted Robert Lewandowski for a tap-in with the last kick of the half.

The halftime whistle came to end a wild sequence at the end of the period, and the game was still very much up for grabs at the break.

SECOND HALF

Barça made the perfect start to the final period as Raphinha was kicked on the heel by Cristhian Mosquera inside the box, and Lewandowski scored a beautiful penalty to put the visitors in front just four minutes into the second half.

Valencia’s response to going behind was strong, pressing higher up the pitch and taking more risks with the ball. They became more exposed at the back, however, and almost fell behind by two goals when Yamal put Ferran Torres through one-on-one with Giorgi Mamardashvili, but the Spaniard fired straight at the keeper and missed a huge chance.

Shortly after the hour mark Hansi Flick made a triple change, including Pedri’s debut and return from injury. Pedri looked healthy and fit, and was his usual creative self with a few amazing key passes that would have turned into huge chances if not for crucial deflections or blocks by the Valencia defenders.

Flick made another change with 20 minutes left when Eric García replaced the exhausted Marc Bernal at the heart of midfield, and the center-back looked comfortable in the early stages of his cameo as a pivot, putting out fires at the edge of the box and keeping the backline organized.

There was a hydration break with 15 minutes to go and the home side came out of that pause with even more desperation as they pressed higher and looked for a late equalizer, while Barça tried to slow the pace down and keep the ball for extended stretches.

The Blaugrana’s strategy worked thanks in large part to Pedri, who moved all over the pitch to keep attacks going and retain possession while Valencia continued chasing the ball as they tried to launch a late blitz.

Barça remained poised and had almost complete control of the ball and the match as we reached the dying seconds, and missed two big chances to put the game away in added time as Casadó and Lewandowski wasted golden opportunities inside the box.

The missed chances didn’t cost Barça after all, and the final whistle came to give them all three points after a hard-fought battle at Mestalla. The first half had some difficult moments but the second half performance was very strong in and out of possession, and Barça showed great resilience and poise to hold on to the victory without having to suffer at the end.

It’s a good start to life under Hansi Flick, and three points away to Valencia are never a bad thing. Well done, boys!

Valencia: Mamardashvili; Correia, Mosquera, Yarek, Vázquez (Tejón 78’); Mir (Otorbi 78’), Guerra (Guillamón 86’), Pepelu, López (Foulquier 66’); Almeida (Gómez 66’), Duro

Goal: Duro (44’)

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsí (Christensen 64’), Iñigo, Balde (Martín 64’); Bernal (Eric 71’), Casadó; Yamal (Víctor 86’), Raphinha, Ferran (Pedri 64’); Lewandowski

Goals: Lewandowski (45+5’, pen 49’)