The Hansi Flick Era is off to a successful start as Barcelona began the 2024-25 La Liga season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium on Saturday night. Barça fell behind but equalized almost immediately in a wild sequence late in the first half, and took the lead early in the second to claim all three points thanks to two Robert Lewandowski goals and a solid team performance. FIRST HALF The opening period started very slowly, with Barça having more of the ball and doing a solid job of progressing it through the lines but unable to break down Valencia’s low block.
The home team then started to exploit the space in behind the Blaugrana ’s backline, and began creating real danger on the counter. Barça’s only good moments came with shots from distance early on, and their strong initial showing slowly deteriorated as Valencia continued to frustrate the visitors and wreak havoc on the counter. The hosts had all of the momentum towards the end, and took the lead when Diego López’s cross from the left wing found Hugo Duro all alone in the box for an easy header.
Valencia’s goal came in the 44th minute and it appeared as though the hosts would take a lead into the break, but Duro’s header started a wild five-minute stretch in added time: Marc Casadó had a sure-fire goal cleared off the line by Yarek, then Duro almost scored his second before Pau Cubarsí came up with a miraculous goal-line clearance of his own, and Lamine Yamal assiste.