Robert Lewandowski miss vs Atletico Madrid: Barcelona star messed up big chance
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Robert Lewandowski missed a golden opportunity for Barcelona during their 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.
Barca beat Atleti at the Camp Nou thanks to Ferran Torres’ goal on the stroke of half time.
The win put Xavi’s side 11 points clear at the top of La Liga with eight matches remaining as they edge towards the title.
As for Atleti, they remain third and sit five points behind Real Madrid.
While the win was by a solitary goal, the margin should have been bigger.
Robert Lewandowski’s miss vs Atletico Madrid
That’s because Lewandowski was guilty of missing an absolute sitter with 15 minutes remaining which he somehow missed.
A long ball forward saw a mix-up in Atletico Madrid’s defence which allowed Lewandowski to run through on goal. Jan Oblak raced out of his goal 25 yards out but was caught in no man’s land as Lewandowski picked up the ball. The Polish striker was joined by Raphinha, who did well to make a run alongside him.
Lewandowski now had three options.
He could roll the ball to his right and allow Raphinha a free run on goal to exploit the empty net. That is the option that he really should have taken. The Brazilian wouldn’t have been offside.
He also could have taken the ball around Oblak to give him an empty net.
Or, he could have tried to place the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper and into the back of the net. Perhaps the most difficult of the three options.
Lewandowski backed himself and tried to curl the ball past Oblak but he got it horribly wrong, pushing it wide of the far post.
It left the Barcelona fans – and Raphinha – in despair.
VIDEO: Lewandowski’s misses absolute sitter Lewa lacking confidence?
Fortunately for him, Lewandowski’s miss didn’t cost Barcelona and they held onto their 1-0 lead.
But imagine if they had conceded a late equaliser…
It was perhaps a finish from a player lacking confidence right now.
While Lewandowski is one of the greatest finishers world football has ever seen, he’s scored just four goals in his last 13 La Liga appearances.
Recently, Xavi was asked about Lewandowski’s form to which he insisted he wasn’t worried about him. He’s only concerned about winning the league title.
According to Marca, Xavi said: “I’m not worried about Lewandowski, I’m worried about winning La Liga.”
Barca continue their quest to win the league when they travel to play Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday before hosting Real Betis next weekend.
Lewandowski will be hoping he can make amends.