Barcelona player ratings vs. Valencia: Chaos in Catalonia! Robert Lewandowski hat-trick secures win after another nightmare for Ronald Araujo

Robert Lewandowski played hero to salvage a win despite yet another mistake-ridden Barcelona showing, the Polish striker scored three as his side came from behind to beat Valencia 4-2.

This iteration of Barca don’t play out calm contests. And Monday was no different. The Blaugrana turned in a poor defensive performance, with just enough attacking quality to make up for their mistakes.

Fermin Lopez opened the scoring, the buzzing midfielder rising between two Valencia defenders and heading into the far corner. But chaos soon unfolded. Marc-Andre ter Stegen, so often the epitome of cool in goal, gifted the visitors an equalizer, his attempt to chip Hugo Duro instead leaving the forward a wide-open net to roll the ball into. Ronald Araujo was responsible for the second, giving away a foolish penalty with a mindless lunge – which Pepelu gratefully converted.

But the game soon changed. Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili handled the ball outside the box – and was shown a straight red on the stroke of half time. And the Blaugrana capitalized in the second half. Lewandowski bagged the first shortly after the break, nodded home the second late on, and curled in a wonderful third – a hat-trick that will momentarily delay Real Madrid’s title celebrations.

EMPTY rates Barcelona’s players from the Olympic Stadium…