Yamal Double Seals Barcelona's Perfect Start as Valencia Hit for Five
Barcelona hammered Valencia 5-0 at the Mestalla on Sunday to make it four wins from four in La Liga, opening a three-point gap at the top of the table. Lamine Yamal scored twice. Fermín López, Raphinha and Pedri added the rest. It was a statement performance from the reigning champions, delivered with style and without mercy.
The tone was set inside six minutes. Fermín López slid a pass into Yamal's path, and the teenager lifted a composed finish over the advancing goalkeeper. A second Yamal goal was chalked off after a VAR review — the video assistant referee system that checks key decisions — but Barcelona were already in command.
Fermín, playing with the energy of a man determined to be heard above the Yamal fanfare, made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute. Anthony Gordon, another summer arrival finding his feet in Spain, supplied the assist. By then Eric García had gone off injured after colliding with his own teammate, Rodri, who was making his first Barcelona start since his move from Manchester City.
Rodri's debut had its moments. Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski denied him with a smart save. But Barcelona's control never wavered. Raphinha, operating as the centre-forward — the most advanced striker in the formation — tapped in his sixth goal of the season from close range after Fermín's cut-back. Pedri added a fourth, finishing a neat exchange with Dani Olmo.
The fifth carried the stamp of the evening. Dani Olmo slipped Yamal through, this time onside, and the finish was clinical. Gabriel Jesus came off the bench for his Barcelona debut in the closing ten minutes, a cameo that told its own story about the depth Hansi Flick now has at his disposal.
Fermín's contribution went beyond goals. Reuters reported that the midfielder scored one and created two others — a hand in three of the five goals that dismantled Valencia on their own ground.
The result lands harder because of what happened 48 hours earlier. Real Madrid, now managed by José Mourinho, lost 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday night. That defeat, combined with Barcelona's win, leaves Flick's side three points clear as the only top-flight team with a perfect record. For Mourinho, still early in his reign at the Bernabéu, it is an unwelcome early stumble.
What makes this stand out is the range of contributors. Five different scorers across four games, Raphinha already on six for the season, and a 19-year-old in Yamal who treats every touch as if the cage courts of his childhood never quite left him. Flick has them playing with pace and belief, and the early-season table reflects it.
Barcelona's schedule does not ease up. Their official website lists a Champions League opener against Feyenoord at Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday 9 September, followed by a La Liga trip to Levante on Sunday. The first El Clásico of the season, Barcelona hosting Real Madrid, is set for 25 October. If both teams are still trading blows at the top by then, that fixture will carry the weight of everything these opening weeks have built.
Elsewhere in Europe on Sunday, Mainz beat Hamburg 5-0 in the Bundesliga, while Augsburg climbed to the top of the German table with a 4-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt. In the Eredivisie, Ronald Koeman Jr — the goalkeeper son of former Netherlands star Ronald Koeman — scored two penalties for Telstar to draw with Cambuur, his second coming in the 11th minute of added time.
A goalkeeper scoring a last-gasp equaliser from the spot. Football always finds a way to surprise you.
