Feyenoord hammered 5-1 by Barcelona in first Champions League game of the season
Feyenoord were comfortably beaten in the first game of their UEFA Champions League campaign away to FC Barcelona on Wednesday. The Rotterdammers were beaten 5-1 by the Catalans at the Camp Nou. Sem Steijn got his team’s solitary goal.
Feyenoord will likely not face another opponent as good as Barcelona for the rest of the Champions League campaign. Their next game in October is at home to Como, with their other opponents being Real Betis, Internazionale, FC Porto, Viking FK, Galatasaray, and RB Leipzig.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst went with a defensive approach, with Javi Lopez playing as a left winger. Anis Hadj Moussa returned to the side after he had been left out of the squad to face NEC last week, when he was late on two occasions after Feyenoord had rejected a transfer to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad.
Barcelona have made a scintillating start to the season under German manager Hansi Flick, scoring 17 goals while conceding just two in their first four games of the La Liga season.
They showed this quality early in the game when team captain Raphinha showed some breathtaking skill to put his side ahead in the drenched Camp Nou after just two minutes played. The Brazilian flicked the ball past Tsuyoshi Watanabe before pretending to shoot, which sent Jeremiah St Juste and Charles Vanhoutte sliding past before placing the ball past Tjark Ernst in the Feyenoord goal.
Barcelona’s second in the 22nd minute was just as good, if not better. Karim Adeyemi, a summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, hit a magnificent curled effort into the far corner with his instep from around 25 meters.
Feyenoord created their biggest chance of the half in the 37th minute. Hadj Moussa beat his opponent before forcing goalkeeper Joan Garcia into a save, and a cross was almost knocked in the Barcelona goal by their defender Andreas Christensen.
This was followed by a counterattack from the home side which ended with Joan Cancelo hitting a shot onto the outside of the post after he had beaten Givairo Read with a feint.
Raphinha got his second in the 57th minute. A perfectly weighted through ball by Pedri found the Brazilian in behind the Feyenoord defence, and his finish into the far corner was unstoppable for Ernst.
The fourth goal came exactly 20 minutes later. Feyenoord’s wall for the free kick fell apart with Lamine Yamal’s effort going right through it and into the corner.
Feyenoord had a goal disallowed earlier in the second half due to Gijval Zechiel being a toe-length offside, but there was no offside to deny them a goal at the Nou Camp in the 83rd minute. The substitutes combined with Goncalo Borges playing a low cross to the far post where Sem Steijn was on hand to guide it home.
The final goal of the game was scored by the home side a few minutes later. Yamal chipped the ball towards Gabriel Jesus, and his extended header went in at the far post.