Barcelona remain perfect to begin the new The League season and finished off the first month of the Hansi Flick Era with their fourth win in a row thanks to a spectacular 7-0 victory over Valladolid at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Blaugrana dominated from start to finish and relentlessly destroyed the newly-promoted side at home, and will go into the first international break of the season as the only perfect team in Spain’s top flight thanks to an otherwordly team performance and a hat-trick by a brilliant Raphinha.
FIRST HALF
Barça played a virtually flawless opening period, establishing their dominance early and never relinquishing control of the game thanks to superb play on the ball and suffocating pressing out of possession. The Blaugrana moved the ball quickly and with purpose, creating chances early and often and never suffering on the other end.
Dani Olmo could have scored twice in the first 10 minutes, but hit the post with his first chance and had a goal disallowed for a very narrow offside. But Barça’s relentless pressure paid off 10 minutes later when an outrageous assist by Pau Cubarsí and a gorgeous finish by Raphinha gave the home team the lead.
Robert Lewandowski doubled the advantage just four minutes later thanks to a beautiful assist from Lamine Yamal, and the Blaugrana were in cruise control midway through the period. But they never stopped going forward, and Olmo hit the post again as Barça continued to search for more goals.
Marc-André ter Stegen was called into action once in the entire half and made a solid save one-on-one with Raúl Moro, and Valladolid were maid to pay for missing their only chance just before halftime when a corner by Raphinha fell kindly to Jules Kounde inside the box, and the Frenchman fired it home off the post to triple Barça’s lead going into the break.
At halftime a very impressive and dominant Barça were up three goals and had the win pretty much in the bag, while Valladolid were left wondering what exactly had hit them.
SECOND HALF
The start of the final period saw much of the same from both teams: Valladolid still looked all out of sorts on both ends while Barça created chance after chance to try and add to their lead: Olmo, Raphinha and Lewandowski all missed massive opportunities, and Barça were somehow still only up 3-0 as we reached the 60th minute.
But the hosts didn’t have to wait long to finally get their fourth goal: five minutes after the hour mark a gorgeous through ball from Olmo found Lewandowski inside the box, and after a few bobbles it fell nicely to Raphinha who doubled his tally with a tap-in and added to the scoring party.
Five minutes after that came another goal and it was the icing on the cake for Raphinha, who received a gorgeous assist by Yamal and nutmegged the keeper to complete his hat-trick and make it five for the home team. There was still time for a sixth as Olmo finally found the net on his home debut with a gorgeous dribble and finish, and the party and Montjuïc was well and truly underway.
There was still time for yet another Barça goal as Raphinha’s perfect cross from the left wing found substitute Ferran Torres, who fired it home from close range to make it an incredible 7-0 for the home side. Only the final whistle could stop Barça’s relentless pursuit of more goals, and it finally came in the 92nd minute to end a truly extraordinary afternoon in the Catalan capital.
There are no words to explain just how incredible it was to watch Barça in this game. Regardless of how poor the opposition was, the sheer level of dominance and entertainment the Blaugrana provided was an absolute joy to see. They were fun but almost cruel at the same time, relentlessly tearing Valladolid apart piece by piece with ruthless precision.
A performance for the ages. Truly one of the most dominant wins we’ve EVER seen from Barcelona, regardless of era or opponent.
Just wow.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsí (Dominguez 61′), Iñigo, Balde; Olmo (Torre 84′), Casadó (Eric 61′), Pedri (Fermín 61′); Yamal, Lewandowski (Ferran 73′), Raphinha
Goals: Raphinha (20’, 64’, 72’), Lewandowski (24’), Kounde (45+2’), Olmo (82’), Ferran (85’)
Valladolid: Hein; L. Perez, Cömert, J. Sanchez, Rosa; Juric; I. Sanchez (Martin 62′), K. Perez (Özkacar 88′), Amallah (Chuki 56′), Moro (Meseguer 88′); André (Latasa 56′)
Goals: LOL
