MADRID (AP) – Barcelona overcame goalkeeper João Garcia coming from behind to score 3-1 in the Spanish league on Thursday in promotional Oviedo.
Barcelona passed the ball as Garcia left the area and trailed after Alberto Reina scored for the hosts with a shot from near the midfield circle.
The Catalan club met in the second half with goals from Eric Garcia, Robert Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo, earning their fifth victory in six league matches.
As a result, Barcelona remained two points behind leader Real Madrid, earning 4-1 at Promotion Levante on Tuesday, maintaining a perfect record after six rounds.
“We struggled with scoring opportunities in the first half, but we increased our pace in the second half and got three goals and victory that are very important to us,” Lewandowski said.
Joan Garcia’s mistake came when he came out of the area to intercept a long pass in the 33rd minute. He used his right thigh to put the ball on one opponent, then cleared another Oviedo with his left foot, but sent the ball into the middle of the field near where Alberto Reina was standing.
Reina quickly sent a booming one-touch shot to the open net from around 35 meters (yards), surpassing the Barcelona defender. The ball bounced right in front of the line before entering.
“I saw the goalkeeper make a mistake with a pass and decided to take the chance,” Reina said. “The moment I hit it, I knew it would be a good thing. It was my first goal in the first division and I will never forget it.”
Garcia was signed by city rival Espanyol’s Barcelona this summer and got a chance to score the goal after regular No. 1 Mark Andreterstegen underwent surgery for a lower back illness.
“He’s the last line backup and is usually really good. One mistake,” Barcelona coach Hansi Frick said of the error. “We came back and won, but this is the most important thing.”
Defender Eric Garcia was equal to Barcelona from close range on the 56th after being partially redirected by Oviedo goalkeeper Aaron Escandel before Ferran Torres’ first attempt hit the far post.
Lewandowski scored a Barcelona Go-Ard goal in the 70th minute with a solid header from a cross from Frenkie-de-John. Five minutes after the veteran Polish striker replaced Rafinha.
Araujo sealed the victory with another header in 88th place after a corner kick shot by Marcus Rashford.
Oviedo, led by veteran playmaker Santi Cazorla, scored only this season in a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad. After more than 20 years were not present, I returned to the first division and lost all four other games.
Another goalkeeping failure
This was another goalkeeper mistake that allowed Elche to score a stop-time equalizer and a 1-1 draw at Osasuna.
Sergio Herrera of Osasuna charged him from the net to block Adria Pedrosa’s attempt, but he didn’t commit properly, and the ball went through his foot and Pedrosa reached it and scored.
Elche, who was promoted to the first division this season, also won two of his last three matches. He’s sitting in fifth place.
Osasuna won’t win the last two games.
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