Barcelona 6-0 Valencia: Visitors stunned as Barça run riot at the Estadi Johan Cruyff | OneFootball

Valencia were left in utter disbelief as Barcelona cruised to a six-goal victory at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on Sunday, seeing last season’s LaLiga champions rise to second in the league standings.

Fermín López had handed Hansi Flick’s side a one-goal lead before the break, though the rout intensified following the half-time introduction of Raphinha. A second goal from Fermín and a brace from the Brazilian put Barça in complete control, with a late double from Robert Lewandowski rubbing salt into Valencian wounds.

As it happened

Valencia are no strangers to suffering heavy defeats against Barcelona – their last two meetings saw the Blaugrana win by 7-1 and 5-0 margins in LaLiga and the Copa del Rey respectively. Carlos Corberán highlighted pre-match that “if [our] response doesn’t match the speed at which [Barcelona] play, [we’re] going to suffer,” and suffer they did.

Barça, playing in front of just 6,000 fans at the Estadi Johan Cruyff amidst ongoing renovation works at the Spotify Camp Nou, started well and looked to take an early lead through Marcus Rashford, though the Englishman shot wide of the near post on his second start for the Catalan side.

The visitors had failed to even remotely threaten Joan Garcia by the time Barcelona stormed into a well-deserved lead, with Ferran Torres’ first-touch pass for Fermín López allowing the midfielder to open the scoring just before the half-hour mark.

Barça’s dominance continued after the break, with Raphinha taking Roony Bardghji’s spot on the flank and making an almost instant impact. Hansi Flick’s side should have doubled their lead twice through Torres, but it was the Brazilian substitute who netted to extend the advantage by slotting home an excellent cross from Rashford in the 53rd minute.

From that point on, there was simply no stopping the hosts, who had truly clicked in front of goal. Just three minutes passed before Barça found their third goal of the night, tucked home rather impressively by Fermín from the edge of the area. Raphinha completed his brace, too, taking advantage of sloppy defending from Valencia to beat Julen Agirrezabala.

Victory was all but confirmed for the Blaugrana, but they did not ease off the throttle and Flick called upon Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski from the bench, with the pair combining as the Polish international slotting home the fifth goal of a chaotic night in Catalonia. Still, he had time to complete his own brace, with Marc Bernal claiming the assist on his long-awaited return after a lengthy spell on the sidelines following an ACL injury.

Barça rise to second in the LaLiga standings, while a heavy defeat sees Valencia drop to 15th with four games played. The Blaugrana travel to face Newcastle United in midweek UEFA Champions League action, while Los Che have a full week to prepare ahead of next Sunday’s meeting with Athletic Club.

The lineups

FCB: J Garcia; Martín, Cubarsí, E García, Koundé; Casadó, Pedri; Rashford, Fermín, Bardghji; Torres