FC Barcelona in what a show pulled off a vital win in La Liga on Sunday with a 7-1 win over Valencia in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. Five goals in the first half, and two more in the second ensured that Barca has now accumulated more than 100 goals for a season.
Just before the teams took to the field, fans enjoyed a display of traditional Valencian dances, accompanied by music and performances. Furthermore, human castles from the Barcelona group built three towers, two crowned with the flags of Catalonia and the Valencian Community.
This act symbolized the solidarity and brotherhood between Catalonia, Barça, and the Valencian people affected by the severe climate catastrophe. As previously announced, the main charity initiative would take place after the game, the jerseys worn by Barça players, and all duly signed, will be collected and included in a second online charity auction.
Three minutes after the kick-off whistle, Frenkie de Jong converted the first goal from a delightful cross to gift Barca a lead into the match. Five minutes later, Alejandro Balde delivered a pick and point cross from the other side of the field and this time found Ferran Torres waiting in the middle and squared it into the back of the net but he respectfully refused to celebrate scoring against his boyhood club. On form Raphinha scored the third in the match.
And with less than a quarter of an hour gone, the game was practically over as Valencia was showing no life. Barca on the other hand was oozing fire and showed no signs of letting go with three attempts on goal and three goals. Having set up the third, Fermin claimed the fourth for himself, the goal was initially ruled off for offside, but the VAR room confirmed 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, Femin met it and rebounded on a volley into goal number five.
The only time Valencia came close to scoring was a penalty that was subsequently overruled before they did at least manage a consolation goal courtesy of Hugo Duro. He didn’t even bother celebrating as at this stage, goals were worthless to the visitors who were already fighting a very lost cause.
Robert Lewandoski coming off from the bench reminded them that the game was not over as he kept alive his record of never failing to score against Valencia by making it 6-1. Having already scored two goals, Femin ensured a second assist.
Valencia just wanted it to end at that point but Barca couldn’t just stop the party as Ferran Torres stepped up to make it seven. Valencia is staring relegation in the face and today’s game will have done nothing to help their cause.
Barça Headcoach Hansi Flick could not hide his satisfaction with his team’s performance in his post-match press conference:
“We started really focused, with a lot of intensity, and scored some good goals. For me, it was the perfect game and we saw many things from players who have not played that much. I love the hunger my team has and how they show it. The game did not stop at 2-0 or 3-0, we fought on until the end, that is what I like about my players. It’s a great situation and great news to see so man quality players, That is what we need and that’s what makes us good. We have a great team and you can see that. The atmosphere is really good and we are doing a great job.”
