Barcelona captain Raphinha scored a hat-trick to lead them to a commanding 4-1 home victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, ending a near decade-long winless run against the German powerhouse.
After six consecutive losses in which they were outscored 22 goals to four by Bayern, including a humiliating 8-2 defeat in the Champions League quarter-finals four years ago, Barcelona got their revenge with a great attacking performance led by their Brazilian captain.
Raphinha’s inspired night started when he gave Barca the lead a little over a minute after kickoff when he received a fine pass by midfielder Fermin Lopez, beat the offside trap and rounded the onrushing Manuel Neuer before tapping into the empty net.
Bayern did not seemed affected by the setback and were mostly in control against the home side, who looked comfortable playing on the counter-attack and exploiting the speed of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
But if Barca looked dangerous with the ball and always one quick counter away from scoring, they were far from imposing on defence and gave too much space for Bayern who should have done better with the many chances they had.
Bayern’s wingers Serge Gnabry and Michael Olise were a constant menace against an aggressively high defensive line deployed by Barca boss Hansi Flick.
The visiting side thought they have scored the equaliser in the 10th minute through a Harry Kane header, but his effort was ruled out after the VAR replay caught the England striker marginally offside.
Eight minutes later, however, Kane’s volley from a cross by Serge Gnabry did stand as grabbed the equaliser.
LOPEZ CHIP
After Olise and Joshua Kimmich wasted good chances from close range it was Barca who got back in front in the 36th minute when Kim Min-Jae failed to deal with a high ball and Fermin Lopez cleverly chipped the ball between Neuer and Upamecano to Robert Lewandowski who tapped into an empty net.
Bayern players heavily complained to the referee, saying that Lopez pushed Kim in the build-up, but VAR did not consider that the contact was enough to be considered an infringement.
Barca grew in intensity against a visiting side who looked stunned and Raphinha netted a brilliant curling strike from the edge of the box after receiving a crossfield pass from Marc Casado just before halftime.
Raphinha wrapped up Barca’s win in the 56th minute with a tidy finish from another quick counter-attack and Bayern looked stunned as the home crowd chanted “Ole” to transform Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium into a bullfighting arena.
One day after his compatriot Vinicius Jr. scored a hat-trick to help Real Madrid to a 5-2 comeback win over Borussia Dortmund, Raphinha’s performance against another German giant set up the perfect scenario for a highly anticipated Clasico against Real in LaLiga on Saturday.
“Look at what happened yesterday (in Madrid) and today and you can see how good of a game it will be on Saturday. A Clasico is one of the best matches in the world,” Raphinha told Movistar Plus.
“It is a night to be very happy about. For the game, what we did as a team. It’s the most important thing for me. To be able to win like this, in front of our fans, is special”.
Barca are ninth in the Champions League standings on six points from three games while Bayern are 23rd on three points after a second consecutive defeat.
Spectacular Haaland leads Man City past Sparta Prague 5-0
Erling Haaland back-heeled home a stunning strike, the first of two goals on the night for Manchester City’s goal-scoring machine, as City cruised past Sparta Prague 5-0 on Wednesday to remain unbeaten in their Champions League campaign.
Phil Foden, John Stones and Matheus Nunes also scored for Pep Guardiola’s side who climbed to third in Europe’s elite club competition with seven points after three games, while Sparta have four points.
City are now unbeaten in 26 successive Champions League matches, the longest unbeaten streak by any club in the competition’s history, breaking the record of 25 by Manchester United from 2007-2009.
Haaland was the star of the show, bringing the blue-clad City fans out of their seats at Etihad Stadium when he scored in spectacular fashion in the 58th minute, leaping high to backheel home Savinho’s cross from out of the air.
“I saw it when the ball came in. It’s unbelievable. He’s a statue. So tall and so flexible,” Guardiola said. “I like it, he has this sense of humour. Unbelievable.”
UEFA Champions League Results
Atalanta (0) 0 Celtic (0) 0
Brest (1) 1 Bayer Leverkusen (1) 1
Atlético Madrid (1) 1 Lille (0) 3
Barcelona (3) 4 Bayern München (1) 1
Benfica (0) 1 Feyenoord (2) 3
Salzburg (0) 0 Dinamo Zagreb (0) 2
Manchester City (1) 5 Sparta Praha (0) 0
RB Leipzig (0) 0 Liverpool (1) 1
Young Boys (0) 0 Internazionale (0) 1
Nunes added: “What an amazing goal. I was speechless after that. When he scored a similar goal against Dortmund I was watching on TV so to see this live it was amazing.”
The 24-year-old Norwegian completed his brace with a more traditional finish in the 68th minute, easily slotting home a pass from Savinho to put his scoring tally at 44 Champions League goals in 42 games.
Haaland climbed level with Didier Drogba in 16th spot on the all-time scoring list in the European competition, although Drogba took 92 games to reach the mark.
Foden got the 2023 Champions League winners on the scoreboard in the third minute when he latched on to a pass from Manuel Akanji and slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Stones padded City’s lead in the 64th minute when he leapt to head home from a superb cross from Nunes.
Both Foden and Stones were instrumental in City’s 2-1 Premier League victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, with Foden delivering the corner which led to Stones’s stoppage-time winner.
City were awarded a penalty in the 88th minute, for a foul by Angelo Preciado, and Nunes fired his shot past keeper Peter Vindahl Jensen.
While Czech champions Sparta had a few chances on the counter-attack in the first half, City pummelled the visitors with 22 shots to their five on the night, with 10 of them on target.
“We played against the best team in the world,” Sparta manager Lars Friis said. “We played against the best players in the world. We handled Haaland well and then he pops up with a goal like this.”
City, who drew 0-0 with Inter Milan and then thrashed Slovan Bratislava 4-0 in their first two games, next visit Sporting in the new 36-team league phase, with the top eight automatically making the last 16.
