Barcelona school Swiss Young Boys

After a frustrating defeat at Monaco a fortnight ago, Barcelona made a remarkable return to winning ways, marking their inaugural head-to-head encounter with a 5-0 spanking of Young Boys. 

Perhaps due to Saturday’s upset at Osasuna, the hosts took the game by storm from the blast, and no other performance would have made their German manager happier. 

The hosts’ domination of possession in the early stages was made count in the first ten minutes when a swift exchange of possession saw Lamine Yamal feeding Raphinha down the right before the former Wolves winger found Robert Lewandowski at the back post.

The veteran forward made no mistake in blasting home the ball to give Hansi Flick’s side a deserving lead. 

Raphinha became the scorer of Barça’s second goal when he was available to sweep home a rebound after Pedri’s shot was blocked. Shortly after, the Spaniard delivered a master-class free kick, which was headed home by the towering Iñigo Martínez.

Rahmen Patrick’s side looked to be growing in confidence early in the second half, but Barça’s ruthlessness was enough to put a stop to their newfound momentum.

Lewandowski netted Barca’s fourth goal of the night through a header off Martiñez’s brilliant header back across the goal from a corner.

Young Boys had a double attempt to salvage some pride out of the encounter, but it wasn’t meant to be. Barça, however, regained the momentum of the contest, which was all thanks to the introduction of Frankie de Jong, who had his first taste of action after over five months.

Having now run away with the victory, Barça added a fifth goal later in the match when Alejandro Balde’s cross was turned into the net by Young Boys’ Mohamed Camara – sealing an effortless winning for the hosts, while the Swiss’ struggle continued, especially on the Spanish soil.