Barcelona threw it back to their glory days with a four-goal masterclass that left Borussia Dortmund stunned and reeling on Wednesday.
Robert Lewandowski struck twice and Raphinha dazzled with a goal and two assists, powering the Catalans to a commanding 4-0 win in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals – their clearest path to the last four since 2019.
Teen sensation Lamine Yamal added a late fourth to all but crush Dortmund’s semifinal dreams.
The return leg is set for Tuesday in Germany, where Dortmund – last season’s runners-up – must now attempt a miracle.
“We’re not through yet,” said Barcelona boss Hansi Flick. “Football is madness. We must play like this again in Dortmund.”
The madness, however, is all on Dortmund’s side now.
Raphinha opened the floodgates in the 25th minute, poking in a loose ball for his 12th goal of the tournament – still leading all scorers.
The Brazilian then teed up Lewandowski in the 48th for the first of the Pole’s two goals, before assisting Yamal’s finish in the 77th.
Lewandowski’s second came in the 66th, a clinical one-timer that brought his Champions League tally to 105, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
At 36, he now holds the record for most UCL goals after turning 35 – 14, two more than Ronaldo.
“I’m always thinking of how to help the team with goals,” Lewandowski said. “When the team plays this well, it becomes easy for me.”
Raphinha, meanwhile, has scored in four straight UCL knockout matches – seven goals in that span – and humbly apologized to 17-year-old defender Pau Cubarsi post-match for tapping in what may have been the defender’s first Champions League goal.
“It was going in, but I just couldn’t resist,” Raphinha said with a grin.
Yamal, 17, now has four UCL goals – more than any player before turning 18.
Barcelona, who last lifted the trophy in 2015, are rediscovering the European firepower that once made them feared.
Flick, who led Bayern to the title in 2020, is not drawing comparisons yet but sees something special brewing.
“There’s an unbelievable atmosphere in this team,” Flick told DAZN. “The way they believe, the quality they bring – I haven’t seen this form from us before.”
Dortmund coach Niko Kovac was blunt in his assessment: “We thoroughly deserved to lose. We defended badly, punished ourselves, and even gave up a goal from our own throw-in. It’s not good.”
Barcelona will now look ahead to a potential semifinal clash with either Bayern Munich or Inter Milan – with Inter holding a slim 2-1 edge ahead of their return leg.
But Lewandowski isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“We scored four, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe,” he said. “This is the Champions League – anything can happen.”
