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2022/23 Spanish La Liga
Matchday 3
Barcelona v Real Valladolid
Camp Nou
Barcelona, Spain
Sunday, 28 August 2022
Kick-off is at 19h30
Barcelona will be looking to stay in touch with the early
La Liga frontrunners when they welcome Real Valladolid to the Camp Nou on Sunday, August 28.
The Blaugrana are two points off the league summit in fifth place after they recorded a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad at the Reale Arena last time out.
Xavi's side had dropped two points on the opening weekend when they were held to a goalless draw by Rayo Vallecano in the Catalan capital.
New signing Robert Lewandowski got off the mark for Barca with a brace against Sociedad, while Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati also found the back of the net.
Xavi hailed the impact made by Lewandowski, while he admitted that a change in system for the second half paid dividends after they tried to force the issue in the opening 45 minutes.
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"It was a difficult game, it always is when you come here," he said. "When we play with more patience, like in the second half, we're much better. We lacked that in the first half.
"We spoke at the break about attacking the space better, that is what we needed to do. We deserved to win. We have to correct many things but we are in a good way.
"They play with two strikers and we changed [system] because it was not necessary to play with four, it was enough with three, with wingers, with two midfielders.
"We have many, many players, top players up front: Robert, Ansu, Raphinha, Ousmane, Ferran [Torres], he played really well. Robert made the difference today, we are really happy to have him in the squad."
The Pucelanos picked up their first point of the new campaign with a 1-1 draw against Sevilla at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
It was an improvement on their first game, which had seen Valladolid lose 3-0 at home to Villarreal on their return to the top flight.
Suggested photo: Real Valladolid head coach Pacheta
Pacheta expressed pride in his players for the effort they put in against the Palanganas, who made them uncomfortable in the first half.
"I don't want to forget the effort, we've faced a very powerful rival that has put us at a pace that we're not used to yet," Pacheta said.
"We still haven't enjoyed what we have to enjoy. Pride in the effort and thinking about the next one. We suffered a lot in the first half, Sevilla has been really good."
Head-to-Head (Last Five La Liga Meetings)
Matches - 5
Barcelona - 5
Valladolid - 0
Draws - 5
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