![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP25313747244193-1762753674.jpg\")
Barcelona\u2019s Robert Lewandowski scores his side\u2019s second goal against Celta Vigo in the 37th minute [Lalo R. Villar\/AP]Real Madrid Frustrated<\/p>\nRobert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick to help Barcelona beat Celta Vigo 4-2 on Sunday in La Liga and cut Real Madrid\u2019s lead down to three points in the standings.<\/p>\n
The veteran Polish striker\u2019s treble helped Hansi Flick\u2019s side capitalise on Los Blancos\u2019 0-0 draw earlier on at Rayo Vallecano.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
Teenager Lamine Yamal also scored for Barca in another gripping game produced by the champions\u2019 attacking approach, and Marcus Rashford produced two more assists.<\/p>\n
Frenkie de Jong was sent off late on for Barca for two yellow cards but by then the champions had secured their victory to move second.<\/p>\n
Lewandowski has had a stop-start beginning of the season because of injury and Flick said his hat-trick would boost his confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the injury I can see a different Robert Lewandowski, he\u2019s positive, he came back very early,\u201d Flick told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor him, for his confidence, it\u2019s great to score three goals today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewandowski said the game was \u201cone of the craziest\u201d of the season, but was happy with the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cVigo is always difficult for us but now we have less points (between us) and Real Madrid,\u201d Lewandowski told Movistar.<\/p>\n
Flick insisted Barcelona would not change their style despite some recent struggles, including a 3-3 draw with Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, and it led to a wild first half.<\/p>\n
The champions nosed ahead through a Lewandowski penalty on 10 minutes after a handball but Celta equalised a minute later.<\/p>\n
Rashford missed a one-on-one chance and Celta broke away to score, with Sergio Carreira scampering behind Barca\u2019s high defensive line.<\/p>\n
Missing several injured stars Flick had called on his team to show more fight in their absence and they were more energised at Balaidos.<\/p>\n
Looking back to his best, Lewandowski grabbed his second from an inviting Rashford cross to put Barca back in front on 37 minutes.<\/p>\n
Celta quickly hit back again, this time through Borja Iglesias, who smashed home from the edge of the box.<\/p>\n
However, Barca went in with the lead when Rashford\u2019s deflected cross found teenage star Yamal, who beat Ionut Radu at his near post.<\/p>\n
Both teams were more stable in the second half, with Barca dominating and Celta forced to sit back.<\/p>\n
Lewandowski completed his hat-trick with a header from Rashford\u2019s corner after 73 minutes to wrap up the win.<\/p>\n
It was the striker\u2019s seventh league goal of the season in just four starts, showing his finishing quality has not diminished at the age of 37.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have two weeks to disconnect now but I hope when we come back we play a lot better, it\u2019s the perfect moment to change things that aren\u2019t working,\u201d said Lewandowski.<\/p>\n
Barcelona\u2019s Robert Lewandowski scores his side\u2019s second goal against Celta Vigo in the 37th minute [Lalo R. Villar\/AP]Real Madrid Frustrated<\/p>\n
Earlier on Sunday, La Liga leaders Real Madrid were left frustrated in their goalless draw at Rayo Vallecano, giving champions Barcelona a chance to close in on them.<\/p>\n
Rayo battled strongly in the derby clash and although Real Madrid had the better chances, the hosts also had opportunities to win a scrappy game.<\/p>\n
They managed to limit La Liga top scorer Kylian Mbappe\u2019s influence, while keeping Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham safely at arm\u2019s length as well.<\/p>\n
Madrid were hoping to bounce back from their UEFA Champions League defeat by Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday but Alonso\u2019s team dropped points for only the second time this season in the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to keep growing, improving, with positive and constructive self-criticism \u2013 this is Real Madrid, we all know where we are and what we want,\u201d coach Xabi Alonso told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in November, there\u2019s a long way to go, we need to be demanding of ourselves (but) also be measured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inigo Perez\u2019s Rayo threatened first, when Andrei Ratiu fired straight at Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.<\/p>\n
After that Madrid began to take control but the hosts, in mid-table, held firm.<\/p>\n
Rayo goalkeeper Augusto Batalla made a fine instinctive save to push away a Vinicius effort and the hosts starved Madrid superstar Mbappe of the ball.<\/p>\n
De Frutos and Alvaro Garcia came close for Rayo in the second half while Bellingham forced Batalla into another good save.<\/p>\n
![\"Kylian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP25313622859087-1762754046.jpg\")
Kylian Mbappe, centre, and his Real Madrid teammates could only manage a 0-0 away draw against Rayo Vallecano in Madrid, Spain, on November 9, 2025 [Manu Fernandez\/AP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick to help Barcelona beat Celta Vigo 4-2 on Sunday in La Liga and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,2057,596,44,2020,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-274839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-spain","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}