Barcelona Terrifies Dortmund and Alarms Future Opponents
With a stunning and fearsome attacking display, Barcelona took a major step toward the UEFA Champions League semifinals after crushing last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Barça once again confirmed their status as the best team in the new year, remaining unbeaten in all 23 of their matches so far—achieving this for the first time in a calendar year in the club’s history—thanks to goals from Brazilian winger Raphinha (25’), Polish striker Robert Lewandowski (48’, 66’), and Lamine Yamal (77’).
With this result, the Catalan club, chasing their sixth European title and first since 2015, became the first La Liga team to score 145 goals in their first 48 matches across all competitions in a single season.
As for their star Raphinha, he equaled the club record for most goal involvements in a single Champions League season, matching Lionel Messi’s tally of 19 in the 2011/2012 campaign. He also became the first Brazilian to reach this figure for Barça in the current format of the competition since the 1992/1993 season.
Lewandowski, meanwhile, raised his tally to 11 goals against his former club in Europe’s top competition. He has now scored in six of his last seven matches against Dortmund in all competitions, bringing his total to 29 goals in 28 appearances for Bayern Munich and Barcelona combined against the German side.
After the match, Lewandowski said: “I think we played really well, but there’s still another game. Scoring four goals at home… we always want to perform at a high level, and we want to play there and win.” He added, “That’s always our goal. We’re very happy—we played very well in the second half and scored four goals.”
French Champions Closing In on the Semis
Meanwhile, Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain look well on course for a place in the semifinals after a 3-1 home victory over Aston Villa at the Parc des Princes.
PSG fully deserved the win, having been the better side throughout the match, and are now heavy favorites to advance to the last four when they travel to Villa Park for the second leg next Tuesday—a night that will also see the return leg between Barcelona and Dortmund.
Desire Doué (39’), Georgian star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (49’), and Portuguese fullback Nuno Mendes (90+2’) scored PSG’s goals, after Aston Villa had taken a surprise lead against the run of play through Morgan Rogers (35’).
PSG head coach Luis Enrique praised his players after the match, saying in a televised interview: “Aston Villa took the lead after a tough spell, but we had to win this match, and Nuno Mendes scoring a third goal in stoppage time was fantastic for us and for our assurance.”
He added: “We have to focus on the second leg. It will definitely be tough, and we must believe in ourselves. We scored three great goals and delivered a high-level performance. We’re happy with this win.”
The former Barcelona boss also noted: “Despite the difficulty of the return leg and the tough atmosphere at Villa Park, we’ll go into that match with the same approach.”
Enrique, who celebrated his 100th game in charge of PSG since taking over in the summer of 2023 (recently extending his contract until 2027), explained the team’s strong performances this season by saying: “Because this squad is filled with young, talented, ambitious, and gifted players. We’re trying to win and fight in every match.”
