Barcelona's honeymoon period is over, and Lewandowski is not doing well!Therefore, Barcelona urgently need to sign Brazilian rookie Roque. After the game, Raphinha collapsed on the Mestalla pitch and covered his face with his jersey. Despite Barça's efforts and many chances created in the away game against Valencia, they only managed to end up with a 1-1 draw. The defending La Liga champions have once again failed to take all three points. Raphinha was one of the most positive players in the game and he also provided the assist for Felix. He worked until the very end, creating chances for his team by running off the ball, but his choices at key moments were a little unreasonable. This meant that he failed to deliver the desired result for the team, and he himself was aware of it. A few metres away from Raphinha, Lewandowski stood with his hands on his hips, staring blankly at the Brazilian winger. "Another day without scoring!This must have been Lewandowski's inner sigh at that time. Seconds later, Lewandowski walked to the visitors' fan zone to applaud the Barcelona fans who had driven more than 200 miles (about 350 kilometers) to Valencia, before walking into the players' tunnel and back to the dressing room. "We have to be one of the worst teams in Europe in terms of efficiency.
Barcelona boss Xavi said in his post-match press conference: "The same thing happened in our matches against Mallorca and Granada (both 2-2 draws) ......Against Atletico (1-0 win), we could have won without such a hard time, as they came close to levelling at one point. Against Girona, we could have won 2-1 or drawn 3-3 (and ended up losing 2-4). Our efficiency is not very high. ”。Harvey's words are very pertinent. According to OPTA, Barcelona have missed the most great chances in the first half (23) and full-time (41) of Europe's top five leagues this season. Barcelona still created enough chances last Saturday, but they scored just one goal against Valencia, who have been in poor form of late. Valencia are winless in the league since the start of November, and the club and their chairman and owner, Lim Eng Hock, seem to be in perpetual crisis. Barcelona created more chances in this game than in recent games and the midfield was more coherent, but it was still not enough for them to win. Xavi's side got 16 shots on goal – eight on target, four off target and four blocked.
They had five great chances but missed four of them. Barcelona created 324 expected goals (xg) value compared to Valencia with only 054, which clearly shows the team's attacking efficiency. However, despite Barca's dominance in terms of expected goals, they have failed to translate that advantage into more goals. In matches against Girona (2-4 loss), Real Madrid (1-2 loss) and Granada (2-2 draw), Barcelona led the way in terms of XG value, but the final number of goals failed to match. This result could be related to the team's center forward. Lewandowski failed to score in the game again. In the Champions League in midweek, he failed to get a shot on target or off target, not the first time this season. Even though he had three shots on target and two off target, and one was blocked, he still couldn't get on the scoresheet. For most of the previous games, Lewandowski has complained about his team-mates' lack of attention to him and his inability to function on the offensive end without his teammates creating opportunities for him. This time, however, the team did keep his back. Despite his efforts, he was also unable to open a goal account.
Lewandowski joined Barcelona as a superstar last summer and is tasked with leading the team into a transition period in the "post-Messi era". Despite his good start to the season, he doesn't seem to be the leader Barca need. Lewandowski's excellent performance and tight defense were the main reasons why Barcelona won the La Liga title last season. However, Lewandowski doesn't seem to have stopped scoring goals. Before the start of the World Cup, he scored 13 goals in La Liga and 18 in all competitions. However, since returning from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he has been different, although he still scored 33 goals in all competitions last season and was the top scorer in La Liga with 23 goals. This season, the 35-year-old has scored just eight goals in the league. Compared to last season, his efficiency and ability to put pressure on opponents can be said to have dropped significantly. Prior to the match against Alaves, he had failed to score in six consecutive matches. Since moving from Bayern Munich to Barcelona, Lewandowski has been actively communicating with his team-mates, especially with young players. Now, however, when the ball is not passed to him, he has turned that communication into a constant attitude of anger or complaint.
A clear example of this is his accusations against Yamal, which have been circulating on the Internet. Barcelona have been suffering recently, with young player Yamal's inconsistent performances and Robert Lewandowski's failure to actively participate in the team's high pressing, all of which have made the team uneasy. As a result, they decided to bring in Brazilian striker Vitor Roque in the winter transfer window. According to La Liga rules, teams can sign an additional player when a player is injured and out of action for four months or more, and they can sign a new player with 80% of the injured player's value. And Gavi's unexpected injury gave Barcelona such a chance. Although Gavi left a void in midfield, Barcelona actually used the opportunity to sign a new striker, suggesting that tackling the goal problem is a priority for Barca at the moment.