The first La Liga match of the season, all hopeful curtains were up, and as the match began, Valencia continued to dominate the game with Hugo Duro’s goal. Polish striker Robert Lewandowski scored two goals in the season opener. Barcelona needed this win after a long drought season earlier, with the new appointment of a manager, as the club is looking to navigate through. 

Barcelona  scored three points after Celta Vigo in the La Liga table, with this victory. However, the club has to go a long way to be the table toppers and ultimate La Liga winners. Real Madrid, the La Liga favourites, would be climbing the table in no time, so an opening victory gave Barcelona a front seat. 

New era with Hansi Flick

Hansi Flick became the third German manager to head Barcelona in La Liga. Hennes Weisweiler and Udo Lattek were the other two German managers of Barcelona, who led their debut as manager with a victory. 

Barcelona gave a good head start to this season, and undoubtedly Lewandowski was the star performer, Barca struggled with the midfielders in the match. With Frenkie de Jong injured and Gundogan off, Flick with his tactical brilliance brought Marc Bernal, Marc Casado and Eric Garcia. 

Hansi Flick was rooting for Lamine Yamal, he said even opposition fans wanted to see him play. He gave Yamal the starting line up after a victorious win in Euro Cup 2024.

After the assist he picked up in the match against Valencia, Flick couldn’t help but praise him as Yamal went through a tough week, the game was hard on him, but he deterred through it all. 

Lewandowski and Barcelona’s performance

Barcelona achieved this comeback under the new manager and Robert Lewandowski’s standout performance. With the Polish striker’s precision and a smooth assist by Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski scored the first goal for Barcelona and equalised the scores. Following a penalty, Lewandowski scored the second goal and led Barcelona to victory with 1-2. Lewandowski’s goal tally increased after yesterday’s match. 

Also the match marked the 100th La Liga for Pedri , Flick’s decision of bringing Pedri in the second half became pivotal, because of the way he steered the game. 

Hansi Flick on Ilkay Gundogan transfer

Ilkay Gundogan joined Barcelona on a free transfer deal, with a two year contract and is soon to leave Barcelona, before the transfer window closes. And henceforth, the German player had been left out of the squad for the La Liga season. It had been reported that he has attracted interest from Saudi Arabian and Turkish clubs, but no offers has been made. 

Even though the 33 year old player has no interest in staying with the club, Flick is hopeful. He said that he knows the player and he expects him to remain with the team.