What a week this has been for Barça fans! If the extraordinary comeback in Lisbon wasn’t enough already, today we witnessed another game that is up there with the best in the club’s 125 years of history.
The Barça machine was is full flow as the team produced a rollicking performance to put no fewer than seven goals past a hapless Valencia.
Everything clicked so perfectly that it feels impossible to think that the team came into this game on a despairing run of three consecutive defeats at home. In this peculiar season of ups and downs, this was very much one of the ups.
Real Madrid have capitalised on Barça’s run of poor results to move into a big lead in La Liga, but they will have been watching tonight’s game and will have been reminded that the Catalans are very much still in the fight.
Dream start
Poetry in motion. That’s what we were watching. Right from the word go.
The game was less than three minutes old when the most delightful of crosses was met perfectly by Frenkie de Jong. Wearing the captain’s armband today, the Dutchman teed himself up and bang! Barça were already in the lead.
Five minutes later and Alejandro Balde delivered an equally exquisite ball from the other side of the field, and this time it was Ferran Torres waiting in the middle, although he respectfully refused to celebrate scoring against his boyhood club.
And with less than a quarter of an hour gone, the game was practically over.
And the goals keep coming
What was that from Lamine Yamal! Not just a nutmeg, but a back-heeled nutmeg! Some tidy work from Fermin Lopez in between and Raphinha finished off the job by dribbling his way around Giorgi Mamardashvili and then confidently converting a tricky shot from an angle.
-Three attempts on goal from Barça, and three goals. What more could we wish for? Another goal perhaps? Sure, no problem. Having set up the third, Fermin claimed the fourth for himself, brilliantly knocking home a devilish long ball served up by Pau Cubarsi. That goal was originally struck off for offside, but the VAR room was able to confirm that there was nothing wrong with it at all.
And before the break, the 21-year-old was able to double up. Following another simply awesome pass from Lamal, Raphinha rifled the ball onto the crossbar, only for Fermin to meet it on the rebound and volley in goal number five.
Five goals and we were only halfway there…
Seven up
Valencia are staring relegation in the face and today’s game will have done nothing to help their cause. The only time they had come to close to scoring was a penalty that was subsequently over-ruled before they did at least manage a consolation goal courtesy of Hugo Duro. He didn’t even bother celebrating. By this stage, goals were worthless to the visitors who were already fighting a very lost cause.
And they were quickly reminded of that when Robert Lewandowskicoming off the bench today, kept alive his record of never failing to score against Valencia by making it 6-1. Fermin already had two goals, now he had two assists as well!
Valencia just wanted this to end. But Barça just couldn’t stop partying. And soon it was seven! Ferran Torres thumped the ball across the face of the area, and it clipped centre back Cesar Tarrega and ended up in the back of the net.
For Valencia, a game to forget. For Barça, one to cherish forever. Wow, wow… Septuple wow!
