A six-goal dismantling of Olympiacos, orchestrated by three goals from the Catalan giants star Fermin Lopez and a brilliant brace from Marcos Rashford, fired Barcelona to a 6-1 routing of Olympiacos in the Champions League
Anything less than victory would have sent Barcelona dangerously close to the base of the group, and the club also needed to regain confidence ahead of El Clásico.
Though not a fluid display in terms of play, Hans Flick’s men managed to find momentum, thanks mainly to a dominant performance from Fermín López.
The hat-trick from the Andalusian midfielder injected life into a somewhat inconsistent Barça club that momentarily saw Olympiacos close the gap to 2–1 through a bizarre penalty, before the Greek side went down to ten men.
A VAR-awarded penalty scored by Lamine Yamal smoothed the way, while a relentless Marcus Rashford finished off a strong night with two goals of his own.
Barcelona struggled to control possession in the first period but made perfect use of the abundant talent of Fermín, Rashford, and Dro to open up the spaces left by Mendilibar’s high press. That quality made up for the lack of freshness still evident in Flick’s team.
The Fermín’s moment came after being revived in the attacking midfield role and acting as the emotional core of this early-season Barça, Femin capitalized on a Balde run, taking position as a false nine and driving into open space left by the Greek press.
Lamine Yamal’s shot was blocked, but Fermín pounced on the rebound, and scoring calmly past three retreating opposition defenders.
Olympiacos pushed forward but failed to create danger, and Barça ultimately exploited the open spaces, as Pedri won a contest with Dani García and played the ball to Dro, whose pass reached Fermín, as the midfielder controlled and found the back of the net with his left foot.
The drama resumed right after halftime. El Kaabi found the net in a chaotic start to the second half.
The goal was initially given but later disallowed for offside. Yet, before that offside call, Eric had handled the ball inside the box, leading to a penalty, which El Kaabi fired in.
Then came the breakthrough for Rashford, dribbling past the goalkeeper before being brought down. VAR intervened, and Lamine Yamal smashed in the penalty to make it 4–1.
Rashford unleashed a thunderbolt right-footed shot to make it 5–1, before Fermín completed his hat-trick with another left-footed finish, this time assisted by Bardghji.
Rashford then wrapped things up with a spectacular long-range shot, his second of the night, sealing the emphatic 6–1 scoreline.
