Barcelona vs Valencia, La Liga: Final Score 6-0, Barça put on a show in dominant home opener win

Barcelona will finish the weekend in second place in the La Liga table and, more importantly, look like last season’s domestic treble winners again thanks to a sensational 6-0 win over Valencia in their opening home game of the season at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in the Catalan capital on Sunday night. A very small crowd of 6,000 fans was treated to an absolute masterpiece as the Blaugrana dominated from start to finish, and the floodgates opened in the second half to bring the goals and the joy back in a perfect night for the defending league champions.

FIRST HALF

The opening 45 minutes were very encouraging from a Barça perspective after the disappointment of their first month. The Blaugrana looked more like last season’s version, although not quite as devastating in front of goal.

Everything else was there, though: the work in possession was excellent, with good passing variety to keep the Valencia defense on their toes, and very good running and movement off the ball by the forward trio of Fermín López, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford, who wreaked havoc with their constant runs in behind and quick passing combinations around the box.

Roony Bardghji was also good on his debut, receiving the ball on the wing and playing direct, aggressive football. Pedri and Marc Casadó provided a great foundation as the double pivot, moving the ball quickly between the lines and keeping the machine moving smoothly.

But the biggest improvement came defensively: even though Valencia were pretty content in defending deep in their 5-4-1 shape, the visitors had no joy going forward thanks to Barça’s press, which looked as strong and well-organized as we’ve seen so far this season. The Blaugrana owned the ball and quickly got it back when they lost it, and Valencia had zero attempts in the entire first half.

The only issue was Barça’s finishing: the Catalans missed quite a few really good chances, and could only find the net once. It was beautiful, though: Pau Cubarsí played a great pass into Ferran, who in turn played a sensational one-touch pass to find Fermín all alone for a great finish to give Barça the lead.

The hosts should have had more, however, but Ferran and Rashford were especially guilty of poor decision-making and ball-striking in the final third. Barça looked pretty good as a team, however, and led at halftime with the promise of more good work and perhaps better finishing in the second half with the likes of Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski ready to contribute off the bench.

SECOND HALF

Raphinha didn’t have to wait long to come off the bench as the Brazilian replaced Roony at halftime, playing on the right wing and having an immediate impact as he tapped home a dangerous low cross from Rashford that caused a ton of indecision in the Valencia backline and allowed the captain to steal an easy one at the far post.

Two minutes after that came Barça’s third, and it was a piece of individual brilliance as Fermín received the ball on the turn and used his weaker left foot to fire an absolute rocket into the corner from 30 yards to triple the Blaugrana lead in sensational fashion near the hour mark.

Valencia looked visibly deflated by how quickly things fell apart early in the second half, and Barça’s control grew even more. And Raphinha, who was reportedly benched for being late and looked pretty angry when he came on, was a man on a mission and added another to his and Barça’s tally as he fired a beautiful shot on the half-volley after a mistake by José Gayà inside the box to quadruple the Blaugrana advantage.

Hansi Flick’s Barça are at their very best when they never stop attacking and continue looking for more goals, and that’s exactly what they did as two substitutes combined for the fifth goal: Dani Olmo found Lewandowski all alone in the box with a gorgeous pass, and the Pole scored a beauty off the crossbar to open his Barça account for the season.

The game was well and truly over so Flick was able to give the fans what they wanted: with 10 minutes to go, Pedri was substituted by Marc Bernal, who made his long-awaited return from injury to a standing ovation by the crowd at the Cruyff.

And there was time for even more fun as Lewandowski became the third Barça player to score a brace on the night as he was played through on goal by Bernal and chipped the keeper to to score Barça’s sixth, which was initially ruled out for offside before VAR ruled in the Blaugrana’s favor. Bernal got an assist on his return, and the night became truly perfect for the home team.

The final whistle came to end a magical night for Barça, who answered all the questions surrounding them in emphatic fashion was as dominant a performance as they’ve produced under Hansi Flick. The football was simply breathtaking, and the goals finally came in the second half to give Barça not only three points, but a feeling of joy and relief after a strange first month.

This is the real Barça, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect with a trip to St. James’ Park up next.

Welcome back, Marc Bernal. And welcome back, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona.

Barcelona: Garcia; Kounde, Eric, Cubarsí, Martín (Jofre 75’); Casadó, Pedri (Bernal 81’); Roony (Raphinha 46’), Fermín, Rashford (Olmo 68’); Ferran (Lewandowski 68’)

Goals: Fermín (29’, 56’), Raphinha (54’, 66’), Lewandowski (76’, 86’)

Valencia: Agirrezabala; Foulquier, Tárrega, Diakhaby (Correia 65’), Copete, Gayà; López (Rioja 57’), Guerra (Ugrinic 57’), Santamaria, Danjuma (Ramazani 57’); Duro (Beltrán 77’)

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