Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, beating Valencia 5-0 at the Mestalla Stadium to move three points clear at the top of the table.
Goals from Lamine Yamal (2), Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and Pedri secured a comfortable victory as Hansi Flick’s side capitalised on Real Madrid dropping points.
The Catalan giants have now scored a whopping 17 goals in just four games so far this season.
Barcelona took the lead after just six minutes through Yamal, who grabbed his fourth goal of the season.
Fermin lofted a brilliant ball through for Yamal, who showed excellent composure to dink it over the onrushing goalkeeper.
The Spanish star thought he had a second goal just two minutes later, again latching on to a Fermin pass, before smashing the ball into the corner.
However, the replay showed that Yamal was narrowly offside and the goal was chalked off following a lengthy VAR review.
Barcelona did not have to wait long to get a second goal though, with their attacking quartet ripping through Valencia after 22 minutes for Fermin to score.
After some nice attacking play, Anthony Gordon picked up the ball in the box and laid it off to Fermin, who slotted it into the far corner for his fourth goal of the campaign.
The visitors didn’t wait long in the second half to put the game out of sight, with Raphinha netting his sixth goal of the season.
Barcelona broke with electric pace, before Fermin squared the ball to Raphinha, who could not miss.
Flick’s side controlled the rest of the second half, with key players replaced early on to preserve their energy, including summer signing Rodri, who made his first start for the Catalan giants.
Pedri completed the rout with ten minutes to play, playing a brilliant one-two with Dani Olmo, before placing the ball into the bottom corner.
Olmo was involved again as Barcelona added a fifth goal with minutes to play, as Yamal netted his fourth of the season.
Olmo did brilliantly to turn away from his defender before slotting a pass through the heart of Valencia’s defence for Yamal to latch on to and smash home.
Barcelona host Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, while Valencia continue their search for a first La Liga victory at Sevilla on Friday.
