Barcelona roared back to winning ways in La Liga in spectacular fashion with a 7-1 demolition job against struggling Valencia at Camp Nou on Sunday night.
A free-scoring La Blaugrana, who were winless in the league since December 3 and had only taken maximum points from one of their previous eight top-flight games, showed no sign of the form that had seen them rapidly slump from champions-elect to third in the table, racing into a 5-0 lead before half time as they put their relegation-threatened visitors to the sword in brutal, ruthless fashion.
Barca wasted no time and raced into an early lead courtesy of a Frenkie de Jong strike with just three minutes on the clock, before Ferran Torres netted a second on the eight-minute mark.
It was clear by that point that Los Ches were in for a tough night, and the feeling was confirmed when Raphinha – who has been a standout for Hansi Flick’s resurgent Barca this season – followed up with a third with less than a quarter of an hour played.
Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Flick’s tenure at Barcelona has been his use of young players, and La Masia’s produce once again combined to deliver the goods when centre-back Pau Cubarsi assisted midfielder Fermin Lopez for the hosts’ fourth.
The visitors were given a glimmer of hope when Wojciech Szczesny was shown a yellow card for what they deemed a sure penalty, but a VAR review decided against awarding a spot kick, and Lopez made it five with his second of the game just before the interval.
Valencia’s Hugo Duro scored a consolation goal early in the second half, but it did little to dampen the blow of such a humiliating scoreline, and the visitors even failed to win the second half when substitute Robert Lewandowski added a sixth with 25 minutes to play, and centre-back Cesar Tarrega scored an own goal late on.
Barcelona continue to blow teams away with the intensity and relentlessness of their attack under Flick, and Valencia are just the latest in a long list of victims this season.
The Catalan giants’ reliance on youth may come with an inherent lack of experience, and they could miss out on the La Liga title this season given they are in third place behind Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, but their future – on the pitch at least – seems exceptionally bright.
Carlos Corberan’s struggling Valencia came into Sunday’s clash hoping to extend their four-game unbeaten streak, but their dreams came tumbling down when the hosts raced into a five-goal lead before half time.
Though the relegation candidates should not be too disheartened with the result, they will be disappointed with the embarrassing nature of such an extreme scoreline, and the prospect of dropping into the second tier for the first time in almost 40 years remains very real, with Los Ches four points behind 17th-placed Deportivo Alaves.
Barcelona will try to make it eight games unbeaten across all competitions when they face Atalanta in their final Champions League group stage game, while Valencia will host Celta Vigo in La Liga on February 2, hoping to pick up some desperately needed points.