European football: Lamine Yamal’s double powers Barcelona to rout of Valencia
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Fermín, Raphinha and Pedri also score in 5-0 La Liga win
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Goalkeeper Koeman Jr scores two penalties in Eredivisie
Lamine Yamal struck twice for Barcelona as they demolished Valencia 5-0 on Sunday to maintain their 100% start in La Liga.
The reigning champions moved three points clear at the top of La Liga after Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday.
Fermín López, Raphinha and Pedri were also on target for Hansi Flick’s swaggering visitors on a hot afternoon on Spain’s east coast.
Barcelona, the only team in the top flight to win their first four games, took control from the start to the upset of Valencia’s fans at a persistently bad-tempered Mestalla stadium.
“We played a fantastic game, it was nearly perfect, we controlled, we were dominant and this is what I want from the team,” said Flick. “We stay calm and then if it’s possible to score we try to do it – it was a fantastic game for us. Nothing is perfect, you always can improve. If it’s perfect then you can stop working.”
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring with a clever lofted finish in the sixth minute after Fermín dinked a superb ball over the top for the teenage star.
The 19-year-old slammed home at the near post for what he thought was Barca’s second goal but the goal was disallowed for a tight offside after a VAR review. Fermín netted the second with a crisp finish in the 22nd minute after former Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon teed him up.
Barcelona suffered a blow when Eric García had to go off hurt midway through the first half after a collision with team-mate Rodri’s shoulder, on the midfielder’s first start since arriving this summer from Manchester City.
Lamine Yamal fired narrowly wide and Fermín struck the post as Flick’s side continued to dominate. Barca goalkeeper Joan García made a smart save to thwart Arnaut Danjuma at his near post before the break.
Raphinha, starting again as the team’s centre-forward, tapped home his sixth goal of the season from close range after Fermín fed him.
Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski saved from Rodri before Pedri netted Barcelona’s fourth after an exchange of passes with Dani Olmo. New arrival Gabriel Jesus came on for his Barca debut as a substitute in the final 10 minutes and sent a low effort just wide.
Lamine Yamal stayed onside to collect another Olmo pass and put away Barca’s fifth. “We have a very young team, with the right transfers we made, but it’s the beginning of the season, it’s not the end,” added Flick, telling his team not to get too excited yet about their strong start. “We have to go a long, long way.”
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman Jr, the goalkeeper son of former Netherlands player and manager Ronald Koeman, scored two penalties for Dutch side Telstar to rescue a point in their Eredivisie match with Cambuur. His second spot-kick was converted in the 11th minute of added time.
Koeman Jr, 31, converted his first penalty on 63 minutes before his ice-cool equaliser. He previously scored from the spot at the end of last season to ensure his side avoided relegation from the Dutch top-flight.
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In Germany, Mainz ignited their Bundesliga season with a thumping 5-0 win over hapless Hamburg, while Augsburg climbed to the top of the table following a 4-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Mainz had lost 4-0 at Hamburg last season, but this time round were in complete control from the start and took the lead on 19 minutes as Sheraldo Becker was played in on goal by Kaishu Sano and picked out the bottom corner. Becker then turned provider as his low cross was converted at the back post by Phillipp Mwene for a 2-0 halftime lead.
Becker was again involved with the next goal as he set up Phillip Tietz to bundle the ball home. Tietz then added a fourth as he beat goalkeeper Heuer Fernandes, before ex-Hamburg player Ransford-Yeboah Koenigsdoerffer punished his former employers with a fifth.
Hamburg sit bottom of the Bundesliga table having lost their opening two matches and have yet to score, while Mainz are in fifth place.
Augsburg have a full haul of six points following their excellent win at Frankfurt, where they had to come from behind having trailed 1-0 at halftime. Jonathan Burkardt headed the home side in front inside six minutes from Younes Ebnoutalib’s lofted pass into the box as Frankfurt dominated the chances and might have been out of sight by the break.
But it was a totally different affair in the second period as Arijon Ibrahimovic headed in at the back post on debut inside the first minute of the re-start. Within a minute of that goal, Augsburg were 2-1 ahead as the ball fell to Robin Fellhauer in the box and he converted to turn the game on its head. The visitors made it 3-1 when Alexis Claude-Maurice fired in from the edge of the box and Fabian Rieder added a late fourth from a free-kick to complete a comprehensive win.
Augsburg lead the Bundesliga on goal difference ahead of Freiburg, Borussia Dortmund and new boys Elvesberg, who all have two wins from two. Bayern Munich dropped points with a goalless draw at Schalke on Saturday.
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