Barcelona finished their La Liga season with a disappointing loss to Valencia at the Mestalla. Hansi Flick’s side travelled to Valencia already crowned La Liga champions, but the nature of their second half performance should provide major warnings heading into next season.
The game was an emotional one given Robert Lewandowski’s last game for Barcelona. The Pole did ensure his last appearance was a memorable one by opening the scoring on 60 minutes.
Ferran Torres’ effort was flicked on past Dimitrievski by Lewandowski to make it his 120th for the club and his ascent to the top 10 all-time goal scorers in Barcelona history. In that moment you’d have expected the champions to win out the final game comfortably.
This was anything but, the technicality and structure completely collapsed. The breakthrough came 5 minutes after it. A misplaced pass from young substitute Xavi Espart allowed Javi Guerra space in the 65th minute to slot home the equaliser for Valencia.
Momentum was with the hosts and Barcelona struggled to adapt to their direct running, once again the back line collapsed on 70 minutes, Luis Rioja nipped past it and beat Szczesny low to his left to send the Mestalla into a frenzy at 2-1.
Credit: everythingbarca.com
