FC Barcelona thrashed Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday, April 9.
The front-three of Barca scored the goals between themselves, with Robert Lewandowski scoring a brace and Raphinha and Lamine Yamal scoring the other two.
With the kind of form the Barcelona trio have demonstrated this season, it was quite obvious even before the match that Dortmund’s defence would have a tough time handling them.
As things turned out, Barca ran riot over Dortmund to virtually ensure their place in the last four.
Barcelona now have the highest goals-per-game ratio (3.27) by any club in a season.
Barcelona Displayed a Rare Brand of Counter-Attacking Football
In the second half of the match, when Dortmund were pressing for an equalizer, Barcelona relied on their counter-attacks to destroy the visitors.
Lewandowski, Yamal and Raphinha kept exchanging quick passes among themselves to slice Dortmund’s defence open.
Their last two goals were scored from such counter-attacks, with midfielder Fermin Lopez also playing a key role in them.
Barcelona’s attacking unit in their 4-2-3-1 made things extremely difficult for the Dortmund defenders to track back and defend their goal.
This is a far cry from the usual playing style that has defined Barcelona during the last two decades.
Barca have had top-class forwards triumvirates like Ronaldinho-Messi-Eto’o, Henry-Messi-Eto’o or Messi-Suarez-Neymar in the past, but the Blaugrana relied on short passes mostly to break open their opponents’ defence.
Barcelona loved to dominate ball-possession under both Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola and it continued under the likes of Tata Martino, Luis Enrique and Xavi as well.
However, Hansi Flick seems to have been able to inculcate an ability to go into counter-attacks very effectively into the Catalan club.
Barcelona’s current formation is different from the 4-3-3 they used for so long. The presence of Xavi and Sergio Busquets in their midfield often made even their counter-attacks slow, taking considerable time to build up the move.
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Yamal and Rafinha’s Speed – Potent Weapons for Barca
Both Yamal and Raphinha are very fast in their movements, and it has helped Barcelona a lot in going into counter-attacks.
Barcelona’s winger duo is probably the most effective and lethal one in world football at the moment.
Hence, Flick’s men have successfully launched counter-attacks with their help. With fine passers like Pedri and Frenkie de Jong in the team, it has been easy for the Catalans to play the ball forward to their wingers.
Lewandowski, who has scored 40 goals this season at 36, has rolled the years back successfully and has given them an attacking edge very few teams in the world have.
Barcelona will travel to Germany to play in the return leg against Dortmund, which looks like a mere formality now.
They will have to face Bayern Munich or Inter Milan in the semifinal, which is a difficult proposition, but reaching the last four enhances a team’s chances of winning the title by a notch automatically.
Barca have a four-point lead over Real Madrid in La Liga with eight rounds of matches to go.
They are in contention to win the coveted treble, which they have not done since 2009.
Flick should have his eyes on that, but more specifically, he should be eager to win Barca’s first Champions League title in a decade.
It will also be the German’s second Champions League title as a manager, should he succeed.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
Recording Date: 11.04.2025