Barca Shred Valencia To Restore La Liga Shine

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Barcelona blew away a miserable Valencia 7-1 on Sunday to get back on track in La Liga with a ruthless win.

Fermin Lopez struck twice for the Catalans in the first half, along with goals from Frenkie de Jong, Ferran Torres and Raphinha, who gave Barcelona a commanding five-goal lead at the break.

Hugo Duro pulled one back early in the second half before Robert Lewandowski struck for Barca, followed by a Cesar Tarrega own goal as the third-placed hosts earned just their second win in their last nine league games.

Hansi Flick’s La Liga side leads Real Madrid with seven points and second-placed Atletico Madrid with three.

Flick shuffled his pack against Valencia to spark a reaction due to the club’s poor domestic form.

The coach began with Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo on the bench while Pedri was absent with a stomach bug, leading to De Jong, Ferran Torres and the superb Lopez all starting.

It took just three minutes for De Jong to open the scoring when teenage star Lamine Yamal crossed for him in the area almost unmarked and he fired home.

Barcelona soon had their second, with Torres poking home from Alejandro Balde’s cross, similar to the first goal but from the opposite flank.

The hosts went three goals ahead in the 14th minute when Lopez flicked a fine ball over the top for Raphinha to run onto.

The Brazilian winger rounded Giorgi Mamardashvili and rolled home for his 12th league goal of the season.

Valencia, without the suspended Cristhian Mosquera, struggled in defense and Barcelona broke in seemingly at will.

Lopez collected a perfectly timed Pau Cubarsi long pass for the fourth and although it was initially ruled offside, the decision was rectified by VAR.

Valencia thought they had won a penalty when Wojciech Szczesny brought down Hugo Duro, but play was eventually brought back for a foul on Jules Konde after another video review.

Lopez rattled home the fifth on the volley before half-time when Raphinha’s effort hit the post and fell neatly for him with the keeper stranded.

Hugo Duro pulled one back for Valencia early in the second half from Diego Lopez’s low cross and Flick responded by sending it through to La Liga’s top scorer Lewandowski.

The Polish forward finished clinically with his 17th league goal of the season after being headed through by Lopez for Barca’s sixth of the evening.

Barcelona scored their seventh when Torres’ hammered cross was turned into his own net by Tarrega.

Seven goals did Barcelona no favors and the thrashing is a setback for Carlos Corberan’s Valencia, 19th and four points from safety.

Earlier, Athletic Bilbao, number four, could only produce 0-0 at home against Leganes and is now behind Barcelona by two points.

Relegation-fighting Getafe recorded an impressive 3-0 win at Real Sociedad to climb to 14th place, while Rayo Vallecano came from behind to beat Girona 2-1.