Striker Robert Lewandowski scored a first-half penalty to give Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Rayo Vallecano on Monday that moved them to top of the LaLiga standings. Barca took advantage of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid dropping points over the weekend to leapfrog them from third-place to the top of the standings.

Robert Lewandowski scored from the penalty spot as Barcelona scraped out a 1-0 home win over Rayo Vallecano on Monday to climb top of the Spanish Liga.Lewandowski scored his 20th goal of the season with a 28th-minute penalty that went in off the post.

Barcelona returned to the top of the Spanish league on goal difference after Robert Lewandowski’s first-half penalty secured a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano.