PRAGUE: Barcelona showed great fighting spirit as they came from behind to record a 4-2 victory over Slavia Prague in the Champions League on a challenging night with temperatures reaching -8 degrees Celsius.
Fermin Lopez emerged as Barca’s hero with two first-half goals, while Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski added two more after the break to secure three points on Czech soil.
The victory moved Barcelona up to ninth place on 13 points, sharing the points total with seven other teams in a fierce battle for a place in the top eight and an automatic ticket to the last 16.
Slavia, meanwhile, remains in the bottom group – in third place, trailing by three points.
The hosts surprised the visitors as early as the 10th minute when Tomas Holes headed a corner kick back for Vasil Kusej to score.
Barcelona equalised in the 34th minute through Lopez who fired a powerful shot from inside the penalty area to beat goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek, before he scored his second goal in the 42nd minute with a shot from outside the penalty area.
However, Barca’s advantage only lasted two minutes when a corner kick hit Lewandowski’s shoulder and he headed into his own goal to tie the score at 2-2 at half-time.
The second half saw Barcelona completely dominate the game with constant pressure, before Olmo scored a beautiful goal in the 64th minute with a solid shot from outside the penalty area.
Lewandowski made up for his mistake seven minutes later when he finished off a pass from Marcus Rashford, who made a quick run down the left wing, to secure a 4-2 victory.
“We knew this match would be tough, the weather was very cold and they put a lot of pressure on us. It was tough, but we managed to come back and win.”
“We realise that goal difference is important to chase the top eight. We want to maintain a clean sheet, but that’s difficult. The important thing is that we play well and win,” said Lopez.