The referee took away Robert Lewandowski’s goal. VAR had to intervene

The world’s best leagues have recently returned to action after the summer break. In the Spanish league, Villarreal is in first place after three rounds with seven points. FC Barcelona had a chance to overtake this team, which faced Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday. Inigo Perez’s team has been doing quite well since the beginning of the campaign. In two matches, they have collected four “points” – a 0-0 draw with Getafe and a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad.

Bad start for FC Barcelona

In turn, the Pride of Catalonia under Hansi Flick won both matches 2:1 against Valencia and Athletic Bilbao. Robert Lewandowski scored three goals in these two matches and currently leads the Top Scorer table. Did the Pole improve his goal tally in this match?

This match started badly for FC Barcelona, ​​who conceded a goal in the 10th minute of the match. Marc Andre ter Stegen capitulated after a goal by Unai Lopez. Assisting player Jorge de Frutos made a great pass from the wing. A moment later, Lamine Yamal tried to respond to this goal in his own style. The young Spaniard had the ball in the right part of the penalty area and tried to take a measured shot towards the far post. Eventually, the goalkeeper was relieved by one of the defenders.

Robert Lewandowski was not very visible from the start. The Pole tried to help his teammates play in the central part of the pitch. Once he tried to release Lamine Yamal, but the young winger was offside. In addition, the 36-year-old had to fight hand to hand with Rayo’s defenders from the start, who treated him ruthlessly.

Debut at FC Barcelona

From the beginning of the second half we saw Dani Olmo, who joined the club from RB Leipzig after the successful Euro. This was the Spaniard’s first match, because Barca had problems registering him. In the 50th minute, Raphinha played a great pass from the wing to Robert Lewandowski. The ball was played to the fourth meter and passed the defense, the goalkeeper and… the Pole himself. A few centimeters were missing, and the 36-year-old would have reached the ball and put it into the empty net.

Dani Olmo almost scored in the 59th minute of his debut, the Spaniard taking advantage of his opponents’ distraction and quickly moving the ball from a free kick, but his long-range shot hit the crossbar. A minute later, Raphinha passed the ball to Pedri, who finally slotted the ball into the net.

Robert Lewandowski’s disallowed goal

In the 71st minute, Robert Lewandowski finally found his way into the penalty area and scored his fourth goal in the league. The Pole got to the ball that had been deflected by the goalkeeper and beat the Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper from a tight angle. However, a moment later, the referee ran to the VAR monitor and changed the decision to a free kick for the hosts. Earlier, Jules Kounde had fouled his opponent.

Dani Olmo finally got his way and slotted the ball into the net in the 82nd minute to give Barca a 2-1 lead, assisted by Lamine Yamal.