Robert Lewandowski turned 34 on Sunday and to celebrate the day he scored his first two league goals for FC Barcelona, in a 4-1 win against local Real Sociedad in San Sebastián. The fact that Sunday evening was characterized by exuberance was less due to the former FC Bayern striker and more to another party crasher: Ansu Fati, still only 19, last injured for a long time – and yet as fascinatingly good as on the day of his debut now two years ago.
Barça had struggled madly in San Sebastian, despite Lewandowski’s first goal coming in just 44 seconds. Less than five minutes later, however, the hosts equalized through Alexander Isak after a hair-raising mistake in Frenkie de Jong’s build-up game. Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, who wore the captain’s armband as the senior, was powerless: Isak’s shot was deflected, the ball landed in a high arc over the German national keeper in the net – 1: 1.
“And watch your watch!” Says the referee to Lewandowski
After that, it was ter Stegen who kept Barça in the game, with two world-class saves that underlined that he made the right decision when he asked national team coach Hansi Flick to skip a few national team meetings in the summer and use the time to recover and prepare . Ter Stegen’s brilliant performance was almost forgotten after the game, however, as the focus was on Barcelona’s homegrown Fati. When he came onto the field after an hour, he changed the game within 15 minutes. And he showed that the number 10 shirt once worn by Leo Messi is not too big for him.
Fati’s first intervention – a heel kick to former Dortmund player Ousmane Dembélé – made it 2-1 (65′), after which he set up Lewandowski’s second goal (69′). And Fati himself contributed the goal to make it 4-1 (79th) – again after a spectacular heel kick from Lewandowski. The referee wished Lewandowski “all the best” after the final whistle, but above all he jokingly called out “And watch your watch!” – a reference to the fact that a €70,000 watch was stolen from the wrist of the new Barça striker last week while he was signing autographs after a training session with the car window down.
“This victory was a balm,” said Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández, because after the 0-0 draw against Vallecano on the opening day of the game, there were many wrinkles on the foreheads of Barça fans in the Catalan capital. Fati smoothed them out because exactly what Xavi had hoped for happened: Lewandowski took the pressure off the young Spain striker.
That’s not the only reason why Xavi overwhelmed Lewandowski with eulogies: “Beyond the things that everyone sees, he gives us a lot,” the coach lectured, “he has leadership qualities. He tells us the things he sees, he’s a role model, a spectacular footballer, a natural leader – and not only a player of the present, but also one with a future.” Dembélé and Pedri joined in Lewandowski’s birthday chorus: “When he was still playing for Bayern, he always scored against us. I’d rather have him in my team,” said Dembélé. “He may be 34 years old, but it’s like he’s 20,” added Pedri. “It’s amazing the goals he scores and especially how he works for the team. He helps us a lot.”
Half a dozen Barcelona professionals can no longer enjoy Lewandowski’s help. In addition to De Jong, Martin Braithwaite, Samuel Umtiti, Sergiño Dest, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Memphis Depay are also expected to leave the club before September 1. With salary savings, Barça, which is floating in fresh money through club share sales, but still has billions in debt, hopes to finally get permission to play for Jules Koundé (from FC Sevilla) from the league association LFP – and to be able to make further transfers. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) is still being courted, Marcos Alonso (Chelsea FC) is the ideal solution for the right-back position, Hector Bellerin (Betis Sevilla) and Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund) have already been traded. Xavi is “annoyed” above all by Koundé’s position. He hopes everything will work itself out by the weekend as he would like to reward the Frenchman for good practice. With a game against Valladolid.