Barcelona continued their flawless beginning to the season with a dominant 5-0 victory over last-placed Valencia.
Hansi Flick’s team opened the scoring within five minutes as Lamine Yamal sprinted past the Valencia defense and finished a well-placed through ball from Fermin Lopez.
Lopez extended the advantage by firing Anthony Gordon’s pass into the bottom left corner of Stole Dimitrievski’s net.
It marked Lopez’s fourth goal and Gordon’s fourth assist in four matches this season.
Barcelona started the second half as aggressively as the first, with Raphinha scoring his sixth goal of the season.
Lopez, Barcelona’s standout player that afternoon, raced down the attacking half to assist the former Leeds winger in scoring his 50th goal in La Liga.
Midfielder Pedri teamed up with Dani Olmo for a one-two and expertly finished to make it Barca’s fourth, then Olmo slipped past Valencia midfielders to send Lamine Yamal through for his fourth goal of the season.
The encounter at the renowned Mestalla stadium featured debuts for ex-Premier League players Harvey Elliot and Gabriel Jesus, who both came on as substitutes in the second half.
Rodri made his first start for Barcelona following his £65m transfer from Manchester City.
Barcelona took advantage of Real Madrid’s surprising defeat to Real Betis on Friday and now hold a three-point lead at the summit of La Liga.
The Catalan team has netted 17 goals in four games this season, allowing only two.
Valencia has accumulated only one point and netted one goal in four games this season.
There were indications of discontent from the home supporters, particularly a scheduled protest where some Valencia fans postponed their entry to the stadium before rushing to their seats in the 19th minute.
This pertains to 1919, the year when the club was established.
Barcelona now focuses on the Champions League as they welcome Feyenoord on Wednesday for the opening group stage game of the season. Valencia’s next match is an away game in Sevilla on Friday.
