Slavia Prague 2-4 Barcelona: Lewandowski goes from zero to hero in thrilling win

Robert Lewandowski scored at both ends and Fermin Lopez helped himself to a brace as Barcelona earned an entertaining 4-2 win over Slavia Prague in the Champions League.

The victory propels Barca from 15th in the standings to ninth and ensures they will be in with a shot of automatic qualification for the last 16 next week, when they round off their league-stage campaign at home to Copenhagen.

But Hansi Flick’s team did not have things all their own way, falling behind to Vasil Kusej’s bundled 10th-minute finish, shortly after a glaring miss from Lopez.

Lopez quickly atoned, though, scoring twice in eight minutes to turn the game around. His first goal was a near-post finish following Frenkie de Jong’s pass, while his second was a wonderful effort after Slavia stood off him on the edge of their area.

But Barca were denied a half-time lead as Stepan Chaloupek’s flick-on from a corner bounced in off Lewandowski for his first-ever Champions League own goal.

Lewandowski was then penalised for offside as De Jong had a goal chalked off early in the second half, but Barca restored their lead through Dani Olmo, who whipped a delightful effort into the top-right corner less than three minutes after replacing the injured Pedri.

7 – Fermín López has been involved in 7 goals in 6 matches in the 2025/26 Champions League (5G and 2A); he is the second Spanish player to record 7 G+A in his first 6 matches in a season of the competition with Barcelona, after Luis Enrique in 1999/20 (also 7).

Key. pic.twitter.com/AP60i7KKlE

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 21, 2026

And they made sure of the points via Lewandowski, who turned Marcus Rashford’s centre in from close quarters in the 70th minute.

Data Debrief: Lewandowski ends drought, closes on Messi

It sounds unbelievable, but Lewandowski’s goal was his first in the Champions League this season, on his sixth outing in the 2025-26 edition.

At the age of 37 years and 153 days, he is the second-oldest Champions League scorer for a Spanish club, after Sergio Ramos netted for Sevilla at the age of 37 years, 257 days in December 2023.

This was his 106th Champions League goal overall, but his first against Slavia Prague. The Poland superstar has now scored against 39 of the 49 opponents he has faced in the competition, overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo (38/52), with only Lionel Messi netting against more (40/44).

There was little Lewandowski could have done to prevent his own goal, but he is just the 17th player to net at both ends in a Champions League match, and the first for Barca. The last player to do so for any team was Sebastien Haller, for Ajax against Benfica in 2022.

Lewandowski’s 0.59 expected goals (xG) was the highest figure by any player on the pitch, though Barca only narrowly edged the xG battle by 1.42 to 1.01.