Barcelona Beat Aston Villa 3-0 as Raphinha Scores Twice

Did Barcelona just send a Champions League warning to Europe? Lamine Yamal curled in a seventh-minute opener after Joao Gomes's blind pass across his own box, his 13th goal of the season. Raphinha then struck twice, first from a heavily deflected effort in the 52nd minute and again in the 64th.

His second was a tap-in from Cancelo's outside-of-the-boot cross, sealing a 3-0 win at the Camp Nou. Leon Goretzka hit the post with a header in the 69th minute as Barcelona kept pushing. The result lifted the Catalans above Villa into second place in the league phase table. The match was decided early.

It ended Villa's three-game Champions League winning run on their first visit to the Camp Nou in 46 years, and equalled their joint-heaviest defeat in major European competition. Unai Emery, who turned 55 that day, said it was a good experience but a bad result. Barcelona now look like genuine title contenders.