Robert Lewandowski scored his first Liga hat-trick as Barcelona leapfrogged Girona into second with a 4-2 comeback win over 10-man Valencia in Montjuic.
Fermin Lopez’s towering header opened the scoring on 22 minutes, before Hugo Duro responded within five minutes for Valencia as he seized upon a careless mistake from Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who tried to nonchalantly dink the ball over the onrushing striker’s head.
Pepelu put Valencia ahead on 38 minutes from the spot after Ronald Araujo chopped down Peter Gonzalez in the box.
Ruben Baraja’s visitors played the entire second half with deputy goalkeeper Jaume Domenech between the sticks after first-choice shot-stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili was dismissed for handling outside his area after he sloppily controlled Yarek Gasiorowski’s backpass.
Lewandowski’s near-post header had Xavi’s hosts level four minutes into the second half, and the Polish talisman was at it once more with another header from a set play to notch the home side back in front with eight minutes remaining.
Valencia struggled to deal with Ilkay Gundogan’s inswinger, with the ball ricocheting off the head of Araujo, and into the path of Lewandowski, who guided it into the unguarded net.
The former Bayern Munich striker was not done there as, deep into stoppage time, he curled a sumptuous free-kick into the top corner to score his third and Barca’s fourth.
Barca travel to third-placed Girona this weekend as both battle it out for the final Supercopa place.
More to follow.