Lewandowski Confident: “We Know How to Beat Real Madrid”

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Lewandowski: “Scoring a Goal is Like Going to the Moon for a Few Seconds”

Barça’s last chance to compete for the league title comes this Sunday (9:00 PM). Xavi Hernández’s team visits the Santiago Bernabéu to settle what will be the coach’s last classic if he maintains his decision to leave the Blaugrana bench at the end of the season.

The Barça team clings to the league title after being eliminated from the Champions League by PSG, who took advantage of the favors granted by Romanian referee István Kovács. They do so with the urgent need to win, to reduce to five the eight-point gap that currently separates them from Real Madrid.

Barça is aware that a defeat would virtually mean saying goodbye to the title, as coming back from eleven points – plus the goal difference – with only 18 points left to play seems almost impossible.

Despite this all-or-nothing situation and the setback of European elimination, the Blaugrana locker room faces the classic with optimism. At least, that’s the message Robert Lewandowski has sent during the ‘media day’ with international media that have the TV rights to the match.

“We know how to beat Real Madrid,” says a confident Lewandowski, determined to avenge the recent defeats against the white team: “We know them and have analyzed the mistakes we made last time we faced them. We know that if we minimize their strengths, we can beat them at the Santiago Bernabéu.”

The Polish striker believes that the European knockout rounds could play in their favor, both mentally and physically. “The euphoria from qualifying against Manchester City may mean that Real Madrid arrives out of tune mentally for the classic,” argues Lewandowski, who also believes that the effort against City could take its toll: “It’s true that we played 70 minutes with one man down, but we had one more day of rest. They played 120 minutes, had to face a penalty shootout, and the trip back home. They probably arrived in Madrid past five in the morning.”