Barcelona 5-1 Feyenoord was as comfortable as the scoreline suggests. Hansi Flick’s side opened their Champions League league-phase campaign with a rout at the Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday evening, and were three goals up before the Dutch champions had a shot worth the name.
Raphinha, Adeyemi and a first armband for Lamine Yamal
Captain Raphinha struck after three minutes, taking Lamine Yamal’s lay-off, sitting two defenders down with a body feint and passing the ball into the net. Karim Adeyemi made it 2-0 on 22 minutes with a curling right-footed finish from the edge of the box after João Cancelo’s pass, celebrated with a backflip, and then Raphinha added his second just before the hour from a Pedri through ball — his eighth goal in five games this season, per Mundo Deportivo’s player marks.
Raphinha came off on 71 minutes, and with Pedri already withdrawn the armband went to Lamine Yamal — the youngest captain in the club’s history at 19. Six minutes later he curled a free-kick through the wall for 4-0 and sprinted to the bench to celebrate with Raphinha. Ayase Ueda’s side pulled one back through Steijn on 82, before Gabriel Jesus headed in Lamine’s cross on 85 for his first Barça goal.
‘The idea is to carry on like this’
“Starting the season like this gives us confidence,” Raphinha said afterwards, as quoted by AS via Barca Universal. “The idea is to carry on like this. To try to keep the low points to a minimum.”
Flick made five changes from Valencia, with Jules Koundé covering the suspended Eric García and Cancelo starting for the first time this season — all as set out in the squad list named on Wednesday morning. It is five wins from five in all competitions.
