Lewandowski hat-trick seals emphatic Barca win
Robert Lewandowski's first-half hat-trick got Barcelona back to winning ways in LaLiga with a 3-0 victory away at Deportivo Alaves.
Barcelona started brightly but was denied a fifth-minute lead as Raphinha's dinked finish over Antonio Sivera was ruled out for offside.
However, just two minutes later, Lewandowski headed home from a Raphinha free-kick, and the pair linked up again in the 22nd minute, with the Poland forward finishing off a lightning-quick counter-attack by the Brazilian.
Lewandowski completed his hat-trick in the 32nd minute, netting his 10th league goal of the campaign, doing well to guide it into the net as he took a tumble.
Toni Martinez had a first-half goal disallowed by VAR for the hosts, and also struck the post just after the break before Joan Jordan's late header was chalked off after a review.
Barcelona, which is three points clear of Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga, could have had more, but Alaves was indebted to Sivera, who stood strong, making six saves to keep the scoreline down.
Lewandowski has settled back into life under Hansi Flick since the German's move to Barcelona, and his numbers do all the talking.
He sits top of the LaLiga goalscoring charts already, and he scored the fourth-earliest hat-trick by a Barca player in LaLiga, netting his three goals within 32 minutes.
But Flick is reluctant to draw comparisons with his all-conquering Bayern Munich team, in which Lewandowski was also a star.
"No, no, I don't like that. This team is different," Flick said.
"The situation is different. At the moment, things look good. I'm happy to be the coach of this team, but I know that things can change really quickly in football.
"We value what we have, it's fantastic to see things work. What this team is doing is amazing. The atmosphere in the dressing room is great.
"It's not just about winning and losing. We analyse matches, that's why we have a very large group of analysts. We want to show the players what we can improve on for the next match."
Lewandowski's hat-trick was the fourth-earliest scored by a Barcelona player in LaLiga (32 minutes), and took his tally up to 10 goals in the competition.
Flick was full of praise for his striker, who was part of that treble-winning team at Bayern.
"Lewandowski is the same player I knew in Munich, and he's the best in the box. What he does is fantastic, he's always ready to score," Flick added.
"I think we should praise everyone in the team, they're all helping him. He's in good form, and I'm happy to see that. I'm happy for the three points and happy with Lewy's performance.
"In the first half, we didn't make any mistakes, we didn't allow Alaves to play their game. That was the key to winning."
