Fermin Lopez scored a hat-trick and Marcus Rashford took his personal tally to four goals from three Champions League games as Barcelona thrashed Olympiacos.
Two smart first-half finishes from Lopez put Barcelona in control, before his third, a Lamine Yamal penalty and a Rashford double halted a short-lived Olympiacos fightback.
After playing Yamal through on goal in the seventh minute, Lopez was on hand to finish past the defenders on the goal-line when goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis made a block but could not keep hold of the ball.
The Spanish midfielder doubled Barcelona’s lead half an hour later when he ran on to Dro Fernandez’s ball into space, cut inside and curled a left-footed strike into the left corner.
The second half began in bizarre circumstances. Ayoub El Kaabi thought he had halved the deficit with a header, but after checking on the pitchside monitor, referee Urs Schnyder chalked off the goal for offside and instead awarded the visitors a penalty for a handball by Eric Garcia, which El Kaabi converted via the post.
Three minutes later Olympiacos midfielder Santiago Hezze was shown a second yellow card and ordered off for catching Marc Casado with a flailing arm.
This was a night when Yamal became the youngest player to reach 25 Champions League appearances – at 18 years and 100 days – and the teenager tucked away a penalty after Rashford was brought down while attempting to round Tzolakis.
Barcelona were not finished and were hungry for goals. In the 74th minute Rashford beat Tzolakis with a well-placed low finish, and then two minutes later Lopez smashed in his third from the edge of the box to become the first Spaniard to score a Champions League hat-trick for the Catalan side.
Rashford drilled his second after controlling a cross-field pass with a delightful touch. In 37 Champions League games for Manchester United, he scored more than one goal on just one occasion, but it has happened twice already with Barcelona.
“Rashford played well today,” said Flick.
“It’s not easy for him to play that number nine role. The first minutes of the match I guess we were struggling to press, but at the end the chances he had and the penalty he won…
“The important thing is that he scored goals. He’s giving me 100% of what I want from him.”
This was the first time since they famously beat Paris St-Germain 6-1 in 2017 that Barcelona have scored six goals in a Champions League match.
Barcelona have six points after three games of this campaign after beating Newcastle 2-1 and losing to PSG by the same scoreline.
Olympiacos remain on one point, and have now lost each of their last 12 Champions League away games.
Fernandez marks European debut with assist
Seventeen-year-old Dro Fernandez was a surprise inclusion by Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick. A calm pass into the path of Lopez for the second goal of the night illustrated his quality.
With the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Dani Olmo sidelined through injury, Flick chose not to rush back the returning Ferran Torres before facing Real Madrid in El Clásico on Sunday.
The latest talent from the famed La Masia academy production line, Fernandez made his first senior competitive start last month after taking part in Barcelona’s pre-season tour of Japan.
Born in the small town of Nigran in the province of Galicia in north-west Spain, Fernandez joined Barcelona from Val Minor Nigran in 2022 and made an immediate impression playing with the under-15s.
An attacker who can play across the front line, Fernandez has Filipino heritage through his mother and has represented Spain at the youth level.
He was among seven La Masia graduates named in the starting XI by Flick, illustrating the talent that has originated in the club’s youth ranks, but also the injury crisis faced by the first team.
“The unique situation with La Masia is that every player is specially connected to his team-mate,” Flick said.
“We now have players who were born in 2007, and they played together at junior level, trained together, they know each other inside out, and now they are playing for the first team together. It’s unique.
“The respect that those world-class guys have for these young teammates is huge.”
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