PA Media/dpa
London
Raphinha scored a hat-trick as Barcelona crushed Valladolid 7-0 on Saturday to continue Hansi Flick’s winning start to his reign.
Targeting their fourth victory in as many La Liga matches, the Catalan giants dominated from start to finish with man-of-the-match Raphinha taking the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys by storm.
The Brazil winger had been linked with a summer move to Aston Villa but he underlined his value to the club with three clinical strikes that were accompanied by goals from Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres.
Lamine Yamal was an early handful with the crowd cheering his pass through the legs of Stanko Juric and in the fifth minute he delivered a pinpoint cross that exposed the visiting defence.
Lewandowski fed Olmo but his shot struck the crossbar before Raphinha’s follow up was blocked.
Barcelona should have scored but they continued to dominate with Olmo having a goal disallowed for off-side.
Valladolid were under heavy pressure and they cracked in the 20th minute when Raphinha drilled home Pau Cubarsi’s floated pass which he controlled with his chest while holding off a tackle.
The visiting defence were caught flat footed by a similar move again with Yamal providing the assist for Lewandowski, who had the time and space to pick his spot.
Raphinha turned provider in first-half injury time as Kounde stabbed home his corner, taking advantage of Valladolid’s abject failure to deal with the set piece.
The fourth arrived in the 64th minute and was the easiest of Raphinha’s goals as he nudged the ball into an empty net but his third was a classy finish as he ran on to a sublime pass from Yamal that split the defence.
The final goal typically had Raphinha’s influence stamped all over it as his bullet cross into the box was buried by Torres as he sprinted in to join the attack. Barcelona have now scored 13 goals in four games and have started the season like a freight train, inspired by Raphinha, Yamal and Lewandowski.
