VILLARREAL, Spain-- Barcelona maintained their perfect start in LaLiga as forwards Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both scored twice to help them thrash hosts Villarreal 5-1 in a highly entertaining clash on Sunday. Lewandowski found the net twice inside 35 minutes before Villarreal pulled a quick one back through Ayoze Perez but Pablo Torre made it 3-1 after the break and Raphinha completed the rout for Barca with two goals late in the second half.
Hansi Flick's side extended their winning streak in the league to six games as they bounced back from their 2-1 loss against Monaco in the Champions League on Thursday. Barcelona remain top of the standings on 18 points as they preserved a four-point lead over defending champions Real Madrid in second. Villarreal, who were handed their first LaLiga loss of the season, are fifth with 11 points. The visitors lost goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen just before halftime after the German keeper fell and was visibly in pain as he was carried off the pitch on a stretcher.
Depleted Barca were already without new signing Dani Olmo, sidelined with a right hamstring injury, and fellow midfielders Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal and Fermin Lopez, as well as defenders Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen. Villarreal proved to be challenging opponents, dangerous on counter-attack and had three goals disallowed throughout the game for minimal offside. First of them took place in the eighth minute when Yeremy Pino thought he gave the hosts a shock lead after the midfielder lobbed Ter Stegen just to see the flag go up. Lewandowski then opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a simple first-time finish and added a second in the 35th with an overhead kick from close range after the ball bounced off goalkeeper Diego Conde.
The Polish striker, who on this day nine years ago scored world record-setting five goals in the space of nine minutes for Bayern Munich, moved top of the scorers' standings on six goals in six games. Villarreal were far from giving up and Perez pulled a goal back in the 38th minute before brilliant Ter Stegen denied Nicolas Pepe from levelling just before the break.
Barca, however, yet again proved unstoppable and Torre added a third with a shot from outside the box in the 58th minute before Raphinha netted his fourth and fifth goals of the campaign to seal the win. Lewandowski could have scored his only second LaLiga hat-trick since he joined in 2022 when he executed a penalty after a foul on Lamine Yamal but he hit the post instead. Barcelona have won their first six games of the campaign for the first time since 2017-18, and only for the eighth time in total.
