Barca puts on a scoring master class in Belgrade

BARCELONA — Barcelona showed its attacking prowess yet again in another big Champions League win.

The Catalan club routed Red Star Belgrade 5-2 Wednesday, marking the seventh straight match in all competitions that it has scored at least three goals. Hansi Flick's team has averaged four goals per match in that run of victories.

Robert Lewandowski netted twice to extend his scoring streak to 15 goals in his last 10 matches with the Catalan club, while an in-form Raphinha also scored for Barcelona, taking his recent Champions League tally to eight goals in his last six appearances.

"We played very well again today," said Lewandowski, who took his total tally in the competition to 99 goals. "We had the match under control and got the three points."

Barcelona leads the Champions League in goals scored with 15 in four matches.

"We knew that Barcelona were in good form before the match, winning the 'Clasico' and scoring a lot of goals," Red Star midfielder Timi Elsnik said. "It was quite a challenge, but we put in a good showing, especially in the first half."

Flick said he was pleased with his players' focus and determination to earn a commanding win.

"The most important thing is the three points. It's not easy to win away from home in this competition, the Champions League is complicated," Flick, who led Bayern Munich to the 2020 Champions League title, told Movistar Plus.

"I'm very happy, I really value what we're doing. We've been very good on the ball and we've applied a lot of pressure.

"Red Star played very well, they knew how to play with the ball and it was difficult to defend against them. I really appreciate my players being focused for 90 minutes, because it's not easy."

After scoring his 19th goal in 16 games across all competitions with Barca this season, the 36-year-old Lewandowski said he was delighted with Flick's aggressive approach.

"Since the beginning of the season we have had a goal: we have to play very attacking football, but without losing sight of how well our defensive line has been playing," Lewandowski said.

"Everything that has worked so far is almost perfect. We have to look at what we can do better, sure, but I feel very good, the team is very happy.

"I think, in this new Champions League format, winning away games is very important.

"In the first half we played a bit slow, but in the second half we had a lot of chances.

"Sometimes when a team plays very defensively, like Red Star today, we need a bit of patience. I'm always looking for a free space to be able to touch the ball and score.

"That's why I'm very happy. As a team we played very well."

Barcelona was coming off a 3-1 Spanish league win against Espanyol in the city derby last weekend, and, before that, it had routed rival Real Madrid 4-0 in the Spanish league "Clasico" and beaten Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League.

Its previous victories included a 5-1 win against Sevilla, a 3-0 victory at Alaves and a five-goal Champions League demolition of Young Boys.

Agencies