Robert Lewandowski earns Barcelona win over Alaves to preserve title hopes

‘Patience’ pays

Lewandowski scuffed a shot narrowly wide and a low Pedri effort was comfortably fielded by Alaves goalkeeper Jesus Owono.

Flick brought on Frenkie de Jong and Eric Garcia at half-time to try and speed up Barcelona’s game in possession and the team looked sharper as a result.

Lewandowski sent a glancing header agonisingly wide of the far post soon before he broke the deadlock.

The veteran Polish forward produced a poacher’s finish from close range after Yamal sent a cross-shot spinning towards him at the back post after 61 minutes.

It was Lewandowski’s 18th goal of the league campaign, stretching his lead on Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe as the division’s top scorer to three.

Flick hailed the 36-year-old striker after his match-winning contribution.

“This is the job of Lewy, he’s the best number nine in the box,” Flick told reporters.

“In this difficult match it was important for us he was there.”

Barca substitute Ferran Torres’s curling effort was pushed away by Owono at full stretch as the Catalans tried to make the game safe.

Flick’s team could not produce a second but Alaves, who barely threatened Wojciech Szczesny’s goal throughout, were not able to mount a comeback.

“A game like today is very important,” said Lewandowski.

“We can’t always win with four, five or six goals, sometimes teams like this come along who defend deep and well, but we have a chance if we play with patience, and in the end we scored one more goal than them so we’re very happy.”

Athletic Bilbao, fourth, came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw at Real Betis.

Antony, on loan at the Andalucian side from Manchester United, helped create the first goal on his Betis debut with a shot which was saved, with Isco turning home the rebound.

Earlier Ante Budimir netted twice to earn Osasuna a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad, who have lost four of their last five games across all competitions.