Barca 5-1 Viktoria Plzen: match review for the first UEFA Champions League of the season.
After a nine-month absence, the Champions League anthem was finally played at Camp Nou as the Catalans were ready to begin their 2022–23 season.
Along with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, Barcelona has been included in the death group. The games against Viktoria Plzen, the fourth team, obviously become must-win contests in such a circumstance. On Wednesday night, the Blaugranas faced Michal Bilek’s team with the hope of winning their inaugural game.
In preparation for the midweek match, Xavi Hernandez made a number of substitutions, beginning with the starting defense of Andreas Christensen, Jordi Alba, and Sergi Roberto. Franck Kessie and Frenkie de Jong were inserted in place of Gavi and Sergio Busquets, respectively.
Ansu Fati replaced Raphinha in the attack and made his first start in nearly a year.
Xavi’s team took control of the situation from the beginning. Barcelona had an astounding 12 shots and 81% of the first half’s possession. The visitors did, however, occasionally get an opportunity during a pause.
A Barcelona corner in the 13th minute set up the scoring. Similar to his weekend assist to Eric Garcia, Jules Kounde found himself on the receiving end of the set-piece and deftly headed it across the goal. Franck Kessie received the assist this time, and he headed the ball into the goal.
When Christensen and Mosquera collided in the Barcelona box in the 23rd minute, it caused a huge uproar. The official first held up a red card for the defender while awarding Bichel’s team a penalty. The Plzen striker, though, actually struck Christensen first, according to the VAR assessment. Mosquera received a yellow and the penalty was reversed.
Robert Lewandowski scored his first UCL goal for Barcelona in dramatic fashion in the 34th minute. The Polish striker was given the ball by Sergi Roberto, who only needed a few touches to position himself for a shot.
From outside the box, he took two touches away from the defense before launching a shot into the bottom corner.
The opportunities persisted, with Pedri’s shot being blocked in the 40th minute. Plzen, though, unexpectedly scored a goal in the 44th minute.
After a swift counterattack, Jemelka crossed the ball over Ter Stegen to Sykora, who securely put it into the net.
The Blaugranas recovered their two-goal lead in the closing minute of the first half. Dembele’s tenacious efforts to recover the ball after he lost it before sending an inch-perfect cross to the far post were the only ones that allowed for the goal. Lewandowski sent the ball home once more without error.
At the start of the second half, Gerard Pique was brought on as a substitute and played his first minutes of the year. Barcelona continued where they left off, although the opening 20 minutes of the second half lacked much excitement.
In the 67th minute, Robert Lewandowski accomplished his hat trick in a spectacular manner. After accepting De Jong’s pass and setting up the Pole, Ferran Torres skillfully created the opportunity.
The striker received the ball outside the box and slammed it past the goalkeeper with unbelievable accuracy.
A goal was added to Torres’ assist less than five minutes later. The replacement expertly evaluated Dembele’s lofted pass, pivoted, and promptly volleyed it into the top corner to give Barcelona a 5-0 lead.
In the 75th minute, Gavi and Memphis took the place of Pedri and Dembele. The entire crowd was singing the No. 8’s name as he left Camp Nou to deafening ovation. Five minutes later, Pablo Torre made his Barcelona debut.
The final score was 5-1 in favor of the Catalans. At Camp Nou, the Czech Republic Champions were utterly destroyed in a goalfest. However, the attention will be focused on the intense match at the Allianz Arena when Barcelona takes on Bayern Munich in the UCL the following week.
