Lewandowski joins Pichichi frontrunners

Robert Lewandowski refuses to age, and his hat-trick against Valencia has thrown him right back into the chase for the Liga top goalscorer prize. He has 16 goals to his name now, three short of the current leader in the Pichichi race, Artem Dovbyk. Girona's Ukrainian frontman has 19 goals, followed by Englishman Jude Bellingham of Real Madrid and Norwegian Alexander Sørloth of Villarreal, who have 17 each. With five games to go, everything is still to play for.

Second hat-trick for Barça

Monday brought Lewandowski's first hat-trick of the season and his second in total for FC Barcelona. His other three-goal spree was in the 5-1 defeat of Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League, where he became the first player ever to score three in a game for three different teams in that competition., having previously done so with Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

It was also the first time a Barça player had scored three goals in the second half of a game since Leo Messi did it against Eibar in 2020.

Heading home

Two of Lewandowski's goals against Valencia were scored with his head, and both from corners, the first time a Barça player has scored two headers since Gerard Piqué doubled up against Celta in 2016. In fact, four of the last seven Barça goals have come from corners, an aspect in which the team has not traditionally been so strong.