Raphinha let his goals do the talking after being omitted from the Ballon d’Or shortlist, striking twice as Barcelona eased to a 5-1 win over Feyenoord in the Champions League.
The Brazilian was a surprise omission from this week’s 30-strong list of candidates for the prestigious award but brushed any disappointment aside to continue his early season hot streak at a rain-soaked Camp Nou. The forward finished brilliantly in the third minute and added a second just before the hour mark to down the Eredivisie side and take his tally to eight goals in six outings at the start of the campaign.
The summer signing Karim Adeyemi produced a stunning finish, Lamine Yamal stroked a free-kick through a gap in the Dutch wall and recent arrival Gabriel Jesus opened his account for the club just two minutes after stepping off the bench.
There was little to celebrate for Giovanni van Bronckhorst on his Barça return but Sem Steijn gave the visiting fans something to enjoy when he poked in at far post late on.
“The most important thing is we are playing like a team, like one unit,” the Barcelona head coach, Hansi Flick, said. “We controlled the game, we are dominant and this is fantastic to see. This is our style and how we want to play.”
Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick and Ousmane Dembélé also starred as Paris Saint-Germain began their quest to win a third successive Champions League title by thrashing Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at the Parc des Princes.
Last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Dembélé had scored twice by the midway point of the first half in the French capital, and then set up Spain’s World Cup final hero Torres to make it 3-0 by the interval.
Torres, a close-season signing from Barcelona, added two more just after the restart to complete his hat-trick before the hour mark, with Suleiman Camara pulling one back for the Slovakian champions and Fabián Ruiz then sealing PSG’s win.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart’s Ermedin Demirovic struck a 12-minute first-half hat-trick to earn a 3-1 victory over Viking Stavanger.
He opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a touch at the near post, but Viking, making their first appearance in the league phase of the Champions League, were level two minutes later when Zlatko Tripic finished a swift counter-attack with his left foot.
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Demirovic quickly re-established the lead in the 26th minute and then completed the hat-trick with a hooked volley six minutes later. “For me personally it was the perfect start and also for the team as a whole,” Demirovic told Dazn.
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Championship: Ten-man West Brom win at Derby to go top
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West Bromwich Albion held on for a memorable 1-0 victory over Derby at Pride Park, after playing for more than an hour with 10 men. Aune Heggebø’s early goal proved enough to take the Baggies top of the table, despite Brayann Pereira being dismissed on his debut after collecting two first-half yellow cards.
Derby had started the stronger, but West Brom swept downfield to score in the 16th minute, Jimmy-Jay Morgan whipping in a low cross from the left which Heggebø [pictured] finished at the near post. The visitors were rocked by the dismissal of Pereira in the 34th minute, as he was shown a second yellow card for a clumsy challenge on Charlie Taylor.
The hosts went close just before half-time when David Ozoh flashed a low ball across the six-yard box with no white shirt able to turn it in. Derby should have levelled in the 68th minute but Lars-Jørgen Salvesen headed over from Joe Ward’s cross. Late on, Nat Phillips made a great clearance after a late goalmouth scramble, summing up a performance full of grit and resolve.
James Morrison’s side move above West Ham to top the Championship table with 13 points from six games. Either Charlton or QPR could have joined them on 13 points, but the sides played out a stalemate at the Valley. Derby, meanwhile, slipped into the bottom three with their fourth defeat in six games.
Norwich moved up to ninth in the table as they edged past visitors Birmingham 2-1 to make it three wins in four league games. Oscar Schwartau’s screamer opened the scoring, the young Dane lashing an unstoppable right-footed drive past James Beadle from 25 yards out.
Papa Diallo’s first goal for the Canaries doubled their advantage before the break, as the Senegal winger sidefooted home from Andre Brooks’ cross. Carlos Vicente pulled a goal back for the visitors, but wasted a glorious chance to equalise near the end as Chris Davies’ men suffered their first league defeat this season. Press Association
Sporting, quarter-finalists last season for the first time since 1983, fought back to see off Galatasaray 3-1 in Lisbon.
Galatasaray took an early lead through Gonçalo Inacio’s own goal but Geny Catamo punished poor defending to equalise in the 27th minute. Luis Suárez converted a 57th-minute penalty to put Sporting ahead and a blistering free kick from Rodrigo Zalazar six minutes later sealed the win.