BARCELONA: Raphinha scored a stunning hat-trick as Barcelona hammered Bayern Munich 4-1 on Wednesday in a riveting Champions League clash.
The Catalans had lost their last six games against Bayern but outplayed the six-time winners at the Olympic stadium with Robert Lewandowski also on the scoresheet, while England star Harry Kane struck for the visitors.
Hansi Flick, who was in charge of the Bundesliga side in a humiliating 8-2 romp over Barca in 2020, led the Catalans to an emphatic triumph which indicated they may be capable of winning the trophy for the first time since 2015 after a decade of disappointment.
Defeat leaves Bayern with only one victory from their opening three group games and in the bottom half of the table, while Barcelona have two wins and are in the top third.
Hansi Flick brought Spanish midfielder Fermin Lopez in for his first start of the season after injury, while his Bayern counterpart Vincent Kompany opted for Serge Gnabry in place of Jamal Musiala, who was only fit enough for the bench.
Barcelona had not scored in their last four matches against Bayern but were ahead inside one minute, with Lopez playing Raphinha in behind the visitors’ high line.
The Brazilian winger, on his 100th appearance for the club since joining from Leeds, and proudly sporting the captain’s armband, stayed cool to dribble around Manuel Neuer and roll home.
Former Tottenham striker Kane had a similar chance to equalize at the other end but took a heavy touch and Inaki Pena raced out of his goal quickly to deny him.
The Englishman, who ended a four-game drought with a hat-trick against Stuttgart on Saturday, beat Pena with a header moments later but was ruled marginally offside.
Bayern kept pouring forward and Kane found the net once more after 18 minutes, and this time it counted.
The striker finished acrobatically from Gnabry’s inviting cross with Barcelona’s defense all at sea, like Bayern playing high and inviting the Germans to break in behind.
Barcelona recovered their composure and began to threaten, with former Bayern striker Lewandowski firing wide and Lamine Yamal sliding in to tackle Neuer but seeing the ball roll beyond the post.
Joshua Kimmich was booked for taking out Lopez, who was charging into space in Bayern territory.
The Barcelona midfielder, a ball of energy, created his team’s second for Lewandowski. Lopez left Kim Min-jae for dead with a clever nudge, which Bayern complained about to no avail, before knocking the ball across for Lewandowski to turn home.
The veteran Polish striker, 36, has been the chief beneficiary of Flick’s arrival after struggling last season and now has 15 goals in 13 appearances.
The unstoppable Raphinha rattled home a superb third before the interval, driving into the area after Marc Casado spread the play out to the left flank and arcing a shot through Dayot Upamecano’s legs and beyond the reach of Neuer at full stretch.
Raphinha completed his hat-trick 10 minutes into the second half, controlling Yamal’s ambitious pass brilliantly on his chest while on the sprint, before planting a rasping effort into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box.
Kompany reacted with a quadruple substitution, bringing on four household names in Musiala, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka.
At 4-1 up Barcelona’s fans began to cheer their team’s passes as Bayern chased the ball, the style of the victory continuing the team’s potential redemption arc after nearly 10 years of hurt in the competition.
Having not reached the Champions League semifinal since 2019, belief is starting to grow in Catalonia that Flick could help restore their position among Europe’s elite.
Another test of that theory soon follows — Barcelona’s next match is a visit to face reigning Spanish and European champions Real Madrid in a tantalising La Liga Clasico on Saturday.
Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior netted a treble for Madrid on Tuesday against Dortmund but his compatriot Raphinha matched him in style against Bayern as Barca sent a message of their own.

MILAN: Tijjani Reijnders made sure AC Milan got their Champions League campaign up and running with a decisive brace in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over 10-man Club Brugge at the San Siro.
Netherlands midfielder Reijnders stroked home two fine finishes in the 61st and 71st minutes to give Milan their first points in this year’s revamped competition.
Before Reijnders struck Milan had struggled to deal with Brugge, who had levelled Christian Pulisic’s opening goal — netted straight from a 34th-minute corner — through Kyriani Sabbe six minutes after the break.
At that point Brugge, who are also on three points, were down to 10 men as Raphael Onyedika was shown a straight red card in the 40th minute for accidentally stamping on Reijnders’ ankle.
Reijnders’ two goals, both classy first-time strikes, were almost outshone by a beautiful late header from 16-year-old Francesco Camarda.
The promising youngster whipped off his shirt and slid on his knees in joy at becoming the youngest ever goalscorer in the history of the Champions League, only to see his superbly taken goal rightly ruled for offside.
“His goal being disallowed was disappointing for him. He and the team deserved that moment,” said Fonseca to Sky.
“He deserves to be in the squad, he’s worked very hard to be here. He’ll score plenty of goals in the future, today was just the beginning.”
Tuesday’s win was big for Milan as the seven-time European champions have to travel to Real Madrid in their next continental fixture and anything but three points at the San Siro could have put at risk their qualification for the knockout phase.

As at the weekend Tuesday’s match was largely played in front of a flat crowd as Milan’s hardcore ultras again stood in silence, this time in protest at high ticket prices which have infuriated both ultras and regular supporters.
Fans were stunned to see the cheapest general sale tickets for Milan’s upcoming domestic fixture against Juventus priced at 100 euros, with the highest 479 euros.
The major supporters club AIMC, which is affiliated with Milan and brings together tens of thousands of fans, blasted the club for its ticketing policy which it claims is favoring “rich foreign tourists or casual fans.”
Only 58,649 people showed up for Tuesday’s match, way down on the more than 70,000 fans that usually pack into San Siro for both Milan and Inter’s Serie A matches.
“We’re not cows to be milked, we’re not just here to fill the stadium for the lesser matches, we’re not just here to fill the club museum or San Siro’s car parks with 120 coaches every time we play at home,” said AIMC in an angry statement released on Tuesday.
Fans will watch with interest developments in the latest joint effort with Inter Milan to build a new stadium near the current San Siro which was announced earlier on Tuesday.
One of the criticisms of the previous project which was abandoned by the two clubs last year was a drastic reduction in capacity and increase in high-priced hospitality seating.