Barcelona vs Valencia, La Liga: Final Score 7-1, Barça dominate ...

Barcelona will finish the weekend in third place in the La Liga table and seven points behind the leaders thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over Valencia at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Sunday night. Barça secured the victory with a sensational first half performance and added a couple more in the second to claim all three points and end an awful run of results in the league in emphatic fashion.

FIRST HALF

It’s really hard to picture things going any better than they did in the first half for Barça: the Blaugrana established their dominance early, with Frenkie de Jong, Ferran Torres and Raphinha all scoring in the first 15 minutes to put the home team up by three goals and completely discourage Valencia from having any hopes on the night.

Barça were so good to start that they never had to get out of second gear for the rest of the period, but still managed to add a fourth goal thanks to a sensational pass from the back by Pau Cubarsí and a great finish by Fermín López, who took full advantage of a rare chance to start and was one of the Blaugrana’s best players in the period.

Valencia did almost nothing to cause a threat to the Barça defense but almost got a penalty when Hugo Duro was taken out by Wojciech Szczesny inside the box, but VAR intervened and reversed the call thanks to a clear foul by José Gayà on Jules Kounde in the buildup.

Barça continued to attack and look for a final chance before halftime and found it thanks to an amazing through ball by Lamine Yamal to find Raphinha, who smashed it against the post before Fermín passed the rebound into the net to double his tally and give Barça a five-goal lead at the break.

The halftime whistle came to end a dream first period for the home team, who were brutally efficient and already had the win in the bag at the break. The only question remaining was if they could keep a clean sheet and maybe add a few more goals in the second half.

SECOND HALF

Despite having a monster lead at the break Barça were not interested in slowing down and continued to dominate possession and create chances, and Ferran missed a clear one-on-one opportunity to double his tally and add to Barça’s lead.

The Blaugrana held on to their clean sheet for an hour, but Valencia eventually got a goal when Diego López’s cross found Hugo Duro for an easy finish in the six-yard box to give the visitors some consolation. Barça quickly restored their five-goal advantage, however, as Robert Lewandowski came off the bench to fire a beauty into the net and join the scoring party.

The goals kept coming as César Tárrega scored an own goal when he deflected a cross by Ferran into his own net, and Barça had a 7-1 lead with 15 minutes go. Hansi Flick had already made all five substitutions and rested all of his big players by that point, and the Catalans looked to run out the clock and avoid any injuries in the end.

The final whistle came to end a near perfect night for Barça, who finally ended a terrible run in La Liga with the type of performance we’ve come to expect from this team, especially against struggling teams such as Valencia.

Barça were great on the ball and ruthless in the final third, and they are definitely still not out of the title race. Seven points is a lot, but it is still January and this version of the team can beat anyone.

Well done, boys!

Barcelona: Szczesny; Kounde (Fort 71’), Eric, Cubarsí, Balde (Martín 60’); Casadó, De Jong (Torre 78’); Yamal (Víctor 71’), Fermín, Raphinha (Lewandowski 60’); Ferran

Goals: De Jong (3’), Ferran (8’), Raphinha (14’), Fermín (24’, 45+4’), Lewandowski (66’), Tárrega (OG 75’)

Valencia: Mamardashvili; Foulquier (Diakhaby 83’), Tárrega, Yarek (Córdoba 83’), Gayà (Vázquez 60’); Pepelu; López (Pérez 60’), Almeida (Aarons 60’), Guerra, Rioja; Duro

Goal: Duro (59’)