Barcelona regain three-point lead

MADRID, Spain:

Barcelona re-established their three-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish league after beating Catalan rivals Girona 4-1 yesterday.

Robert Lewandowski added to his league-leading tally with two second-half goals.

Lewandowski has scored nine goals in his last nine league games and has 25 goals in total in the competition, three more than Madrid's Kylian Mbappe.

"For me the most important thing is what I can do to help the team," Lewandowski said. "I know that if I score two goals, I'll be helping my team. As a striker it's important to have confidence for when the ball comes to me."

Barcelona went in front with an own-goal by Girona defender Ladislav Krejci in the first half. Ferran Torres added the fourth goal for Barcelona in the final minutes at Montjuic stadium.

On Saturday, Madrid had moved level on points with Barcelona after a 3-2 victory over Leganes at home and third-place Atletico Madrid dropped nine points off the lead following a 1-1 draw at Espanyol.

It was Barcelona's sixth win in a row in all competitions, and 11th in their last 12 matches. Hansi Flick's team is yet to lose in 20 games this year, with their last loss coming against Atletico in December.

Barcelona have scored four or more goals in 20 of their 45 matches in all competitions this season.

"When you score four times it means you played a great match," Lewandowski said. "We've been scoring a lot, and it's important that when we can't score early we have been patient and not changing our game plan."

Arnaut Danjuma scored early in the second half for Girona, who are winless in seven consecutive matches and stayed in 13th place.

- AP