Barcelona won 5-0 at Mestalla and Valencia had three shots. Not three on target, three in total, in ninety six minutes against a side that took twenty five.
Yamal from the sixth minute
Lamine Yamal opened it on 6 with his left foot from a difficult angle on the right, put in by Fermín López, and closed it on 84 from the middle of the box after a Dani Olmo through ball and a VAR review. In between he had eight shots, four of them on target. No other player on the pitch had more than four.
Fermín made it two on 22 from Anthony Gordon's pass and set up Raphinha on 50 on the break. A goal and two assists is his best afternoon in a Barcelona shirt.
The bench kept the tempo
Dani Olmo came on for Fermín on 75 and had two assists inside fifteen minutes, for Pedri on 79 and Yamal on 84. Marc Bernal, Karim Adeyemi and Andreas Christensen came on at 62, in a match already three up, and Barcelona's last two goals arrived after all of them.
Gabriel Jesus made his debut on 81, replacing Pedri at 4-0, six days after the €10 million move from Arsenal. He had two shots in nine minutes and no goal, which is the least interesting thing about him being on the pitch at all.
Raphinha is still the centre forward
That is the point worth holding on to. Barcelona have signed a striker and started the same forward line: Raphinha through the middle, Yamal right, Gordon left. It has now produced fifteen goals in four league games.
Valencia's answer was to defend deep and hit long, 52 long balls to Barcelona's 33 and sixteen interceptions, and Stole Dimitrievski made five saves. It kept the score at two until the hour.
One thing to watch
Eric García went off injured on 29 with Jules Koundé replacing him, and Pau Cubarsí was withdrawn at 62 having been booked in first half stoppage time. Hansi Flick used all five substitutions before the 82nd minute in a match that was over, with the Champions League league phase starting on Tuesday.
Where it leaves them
Four wins from four, fifteen scored, two conceded, three points clear of Real Madrid at the top. Levante away next Sunday.
