Flick’s Barcelona prove their mettle with 4-1 Bayern humbling

All eyes were Hansi Flick and Robert Lewandowski playing against their former teams, but it was Raphinha who stole the show with a hat trick on a memorable night for FC Barcelona. 

This is the biggest week of the season for Barcelona so far, one that will show us the true level of Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, and they passed the first of two major tests with flying colours. So much so that for a spell, cúlers in the stands were ‘oléing’ every pass the team made, almost in taunt of their Bavarian opponents, with a whole 25 minutes left to play. 

Ahead of a trip to the Bernabéu this weekend to face Real Madrid, Barcelona humbled Bayern Munich, so often their bête noire in recent years, 4-1 in Montjuïc in a fixture laden with history and significance for the Catalans. 

Barça have had an uncomfortable relationship with the Champions League in recent seasons. Memories of the 8-2 humiliation at the hands of the Bavarians are still fresh in the mind, while Bayern hammered the Catalans four more times since, as Barcelona failed to even get out of the group stage. 

Now, this Barcelona team are a different beast, reinventing themselves under the manager that masterminded that infamous 8-2; former Bayern coach Hansi Flick. 

Flick’s blaugrana have started the season off in impeccable form, La Liga leaders with nine wins from ten and an average of more than three goals scored per game, but this week brings the true test that, with Barça needing to prove themselves against imperious opposition. 

The win is a clear victory for Hansi Flick and his coaching. The high defensive line, the aggressive pressing, and the direct style of attacking caught Bayern off guard time and time again, and the quality of Raphinha, Fermín López, and Lewandowski was more than enough to take advantage.

Raphinha, in particular, stood out with his hat trick – all three goals saw him played through with acres of space to run into towards the Bayern goal, and on all three occasions he had the presence of mind, physical strength, and ability to finish. 

Lewandowski’s goal came from a similar position, only Fermín found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper and was able to knock the ball into the path of the former Bayern striker before the onrushing Manuel Neuer took him out. Despite the goal and the victory, the Polish forward was sometimes ineffectual when Barça tried to play direct to him, often muscled out of the way by defenders and unable to hold the ball up for teammates to come into the play. 

At times it was a helter-skelter sort of game, but the goals, mainly from breakaways, settled the game as a contest in the first half, and Barça were able to weather all German storms in the second half and savour a glorious victory that symbolizes their return to the top level of European football once again.