Valencia are no stranger to heavy defeats against Barcelona. In the last two meetings, the Blaugrana won 7-1 and 5-0 respectively against this opponent in La Liga and Copa del Rey.
Barcelona have to play against 6,000 spectators at Estadi Johan Cruyff as Spotify Camp Nou is under renovation. However, they still started strongly and almost took the lead thanks to Marcus Rashford's shot.
Barca's dominance in the first half was truly assessment, but they could only score one goal. With 74% possession and 11 shots compared to Valencia's 0, the ball is almost always on the away team's side.
Rashford, Roony Bardghji and Ferran Torres have all nearly scored many times. Torres was perhaps the best player of the half, constantly testing goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala with powerful shots. In which, there was a near-perfect cushion into the top corner of the goal.
However, Torres was able to make up for it with a delicate assist for Fermin Lopez to finish excellently, opening the scoring in the 29th minute.
Barcelona's dominance continued after the break, when Raphinha replaced Bardghji on the wing and made an almost immediate impact. The Brazilian put his name on the scoreboard with a shot from Rashford's beautiful pass in the 53rd minute.
From that moment on, nothing could stop the home team, who really exploded in front of Valencia's goal. Just 3 minutes later, Barca scored the third goal of the match, scored by Fermin Lopez from the edge of the penalty area.
Raphinha also completed a double, taking advantage of a mistake by Valencia's defense to defeat goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala, raising the score to 4-0.
The victory was almost decided, but Barcelona did not slow down. Flick brought on Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski from the bench, and the pair perfectly matched for the Polish striker to score the fifth goal in an explosive overnight.
Lewandowski even completed his own double with an assist from Marc Bernal. He has marked an impressive return after a long absence due to injury.
This victory helped Barca rise to second place in the La Liga rankings, while Valencia dropped to 15th after 4 rounds. Blaugrana will look forward to a trip to Newcastle in the Champions League, while Los Che have a full week to prepare for the match against Bilbao.
