Record-Breaking Barca Stay Top With 7-2 Mau…

Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images

FC Barcelona’s superb start to the season continue as they thrashed Racing Santander 7-2 in LALIGA action on Wednesday night.

LALIGA
Teams: FC Barcelona v Racing Santander
Result: 7-2
Scorers: Cancelo (8′), Villalibre (36′) Raphinha (67′, 42′, 25′), Jesus (79′) Yamal (89′) / Gueye (30′), Zabiri (65′)

With Real Madrid securing a win on Tuesday, Barcelona wasted no time in getting ahead on eight minutes when Lamine Yamal played a long pass to the far side for Joao Cancelo, who controlled well before thumping in off the underside of the crossbar.

Captain Raphinha did double Barcelona’s lead five minutes ahead of the half-hour mark through a coolly struck finish from the penalty spot after he had drawn the foul in the area.

Racing bounced back from the underwhelming opening and got a goal back five minutes later when Maguette Gueye took a cutback to the edge of the area from Asier Villalibre in his stride and tucked into the bottom-corner.

Villalibre’s outing turned upside down ten minutes before halftime and mis-timed a defensive clearance following a strike by Cancelo and fired into his own net to extend the Blaugrana’s lead.

Barcelona, however, pulled further clear in the 42nd minute after Dani Olmo came short to unleash a first-time pass into the area for Raphinha to find the bottom-corner with his second goal on the night.

The Blaugrana could’ve added a fifth goal right at the end of the half with another penalty following a foul on Adeyemi on the near side of the box, but goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala produced a save and denied Yamal from 12-yards out.

Interestingly, the Blaugrana made a substitution between the sticks buoyed by the commanding lead at the break, as Joan Garcia made way for Wojciech Szczesny.

The veteran shot-stopper didn’t have the desired outing in the second half, as his inability to control a back-pass to beat a high-press and play out of the back proved costly with Yassir Zabiri dispossessing him and firing in the visitors’ second goal.

Barca quickly restored their three-goal cushion when a fast-paced move down the right led to a cross in the area for Adeyemi, who succumbed to a challenge to win a penalty, which Raphinha calmly converted to complete his hat-trick.

Former Manchester City and Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus got in on the act in the final ten minutes when collected a lay-off from Yamal on the inside of the box and curled into the top corner.

Yamal switched the roles in the last minute of regulation time and picked up a cutback from Adeyemi following a counter-attack to finish from close-range, as the high-scoring Spanish champions bagged a commanding victory to continue sitting pretty at the top of the table.

With the win, Barcelona have started the campaign with seven straight victories in all competition for the first-time ever.

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