It was a huge disappointment. On Thursday evening in the Principality, Monaco came out on top and dispelled Barcelona's illusions about a successful start to the Champions League. Hansi Flick lost his first official match as Barca's coach, and images from August could have appeared in his head. Then, he lost in the match for the Gamper Cup – also against Monaco (0:3).
Lewandowski faces a challenge. Here's his obstacle
Now, however, Barcelona is returning to the reality of the league. They are doing surprisingly well there, and have won all five rounds so far. They have a four-point lead over three teams: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Villarreal.
And it is this last team that they will face on Sunday evening. Marcelino's team has won three matches this season and drawn two. They have not yet tasted defeat and will certainly stand up to Barcelona.
However, this is not the only reason why Robert Lewandowski and the excellent offensive of “Blaugrana” will face a real challenge. The Spanish media are paying attention to the excellently prepared goalkeeper of Villarreal.
It's Madrid's Diego Conde, who joined the club from Leganes before this season. The Catalan “Sport” writes that it will be “a challenge for Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal” – He is the goalkeeper who has made the most saves in the league: 20, an average of four per match – we read in the text. The Spaniards point out that this is much more than the goalkeepers of Barcelona and Real. Marc-Andre ter Stegen has recorded nine interventions in five matches so far – an average of 1.8 per match. This is the same as Thibaut Courtois.
“The duel will test the strength of the goalkeeper who saves the most in the league, Diego Conde, against the top scorer Robert Lewandowski and the on-going Lamin Yamal,” it added.
Among the best goalkeepers in the league, “Sport” singles out Karl Hein from Real Valladolid (19 saves), as well as Jasper Cilessen from Las Palmas (18 saves). Time will tell if La Liga's best attacker will be up to the task of defeating Conde.