Barcelona Leads Valladolid and Excels Under Hansi Flick

Barcelona leads a resounding 7-0 victory over Real Valladolid, bringing unbridled joy to Montjuïc. With this win, Barcelona now has 12 points after the first four matches of the season, all of which have ended in victory.

This is a feat the club hasn’t achieved since 2018 when Ernesto Valverde began the season with a similar performance, though under different circumstances. While that team considered a finished product, the current squad under Hansi Flick is still very much a work in progress.

Despite being a team in construction, Barcelona effortlessly leads Valladolid, who left Montjuïc with seven goals against them—a number that could easily have been ten. Dani Olmo hit the post twice, Robert Lewandowski did the same and had a goal disallowed, and Estonian goalkeeper Karl Hein made two commendable saves but was ultimately powerless against the relentless Barcelona onslaught.

The last time Barcelona won 7-0 was in December 2016 during a Copa del Rey match against Hércules. One has to go back to March 2014 to find a similar result in a La Liga match, when Barcelona defeated Osasuna at the Camp Nou.

Raphinha Shines as Flick’s Barcelona Impresses

The home fans are eagerly anticipating the return of this explosive team, which, while different from Guardiola’s era, shares the same intensity from start to finish and embodies the belief that the greatest respect one can show an opponent is to pressure them continuously on the pitch.

Raphinha delivered a standout performance, scoring the first hat-trick of his career and showcasing a previously unseen side of his game. The Brazilian displayed the tenacity of an English player from the 1980s while still exhibiting the skillful ball control expected of a Brazilian.

Raphinha’s intensity is reminiscent of N’Golo Kanté during his time at Leicester. In this Barcelona team, no one relaxes, and if Raphinha gives his all from start to finish, so does everyone else around him.

This Barcelona team is complete, impressive, and eager to meet the high demands of their coach while dispelling any doubts that surrounded them at the start of the season.

Hansi Flick has made an immediate impact at Barcelona. Despite being unfamiliar with the inner workings of the club, it hasn’t mattered.

Over the summer, some in the media dismissively referred to him as a “gym teacher” while criticizing President Joan Laporta and downplaying the merits of a coach who, it should be remembered, led Bayern Munich to an 8-2 victory over Barcelona in Lisbon four years ago.

Flick is no ordinary coach. He knows the ins and outs of this business, and his phrase “it is what it is” should be understood not as a resignation, but as a statement of ambition. He knew exactly what he was getting into when he arrived at Barcelona, though it seems the club’s supporters might not have known, or even suspected, what was in store for them.