Madrid, Sep1 2024-
Brazilian winger Raphinha scored a hat-trick as FC Barcelona maintained their 100 percent start to the new La Liga season with a 7-0 thrashing of hapless Valladolid.
The result was never in doubt after Barca went 2-0 up after just 23 minutes and Hansi Flick’s side piled on the pain for their newly promoted rivals in a dominant second half.
Barcelona were quickly in control with Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski giving them a comfortable lead midway through the first half, reports Xinhua.
Raphinha slotted home after a pass from Pau Cubarsi in the 19th minute, while Lewandowski was sent though on goal to double their lead five minutes later, with the Valladolid defense guilty of not holding a tight line on both occasions.
Dani Olmo hit the post twice in the post before Jules Kounde prodded home after the ball fell kindly for him following a corner.
Raphinha added two more goals in the second half to complete his hat-trick against a rival that didn’t offer much opposition in defense.
With Valladolid falling apart, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres completed the rout to give Barcelona 12 points from four rounds after a difficult summer.
Angel Correa scored an injury time goal to give Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win away to Athletic Bilbao in a close game in the San Mames Stadium, where a draw would have been a fair result.
Correa, who had only just come on as a substitute, took advantage of a dreadful error from Athletic defender Inigo Lekue to run through and score with his side’s only shot on target all game.
There was also an injury time winner as Espanyol claimed their first win of the season, by beating Rayo Vallecano 2-0.
Everything looked to have finished in the first 10 minutes after Alvaro Garcia put Rayo ahead and Carlos Romero leveled for Espanyol, but Alejo Veliz netted a 96th minute goal to give Espanyol their first win of the season.
Valencia took their first point of the campaign in a 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal, failing to get past the rivals that played for half an hour with 10 men.
Hugo Duro’s 24th minute volley put Valencia ahead, but Ayoze Perez scored with a left-foot shot in the last action of the first half.
Villarreal were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half after Pape Gueye was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge, but Valencia were unable to find a winning goal.
Dani Rodriguez scored a 42nd minute goal from close range after a counter-attack was helped on by Vedat Muriqi that gave Mallorca a 1-0 win in Leganes to end the home side’s unbeaten start to the season. (Agency)
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