Raphinha struck twice to propel Barcelona to a 3-0 Champions League win over visitors Aston Villa on Tuesday, ending the English side\u2019s perfect start to the competition.\n<\/p>\n
Five-time winners Barcelona took an early lead through Lamine Yamal before Raphinha continued his fine goalscoring form with a second-half brace.\n<\/p>\n
Barca bounced back after defeat by champions Paris Saint-Germain in their previous European outing to stay in the hunt for a top eight league phase berth.\n<\/p>\n
Unai Emery\u2019s Villa competed well in the first half but were eventually undone by Barca\u2019s greater ability in the final third.<\/p>\n
The Champions League anthem was not played before the game, as a mark of respect for Tenerife striker Jesus De Miguel, who died on Tuesday morning after an on-pitch collision in a Spanish second division match the previous day, provoking shock across the football world.<\/p>\n
Villa captain John McGinn had only visited the Camp Nou once previously, on a summer holiday as an eight-year-old, and might have expected better weather than the downpour both teams were subjected to.\n<\/p>\n
The skipper might also have expected a more focused start, with Villa handing Barcelona the lead in the seventh minute.<\/p>\n
The Spanish champions pressed Aston Villa extremely high and Joao Gomes played a poor pass straight to Yamal in his own box. The 19-year-old winger gladly took the gift and stroked past Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki.\n<\/p>\n
Villa reacted strongly and Matty Cash had a vicious drive deflected narrowly wide before Joao Cancelo blocked Gomes\u2019s effort. <\/p>\n
Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia was quick off his line to beat Nicolas Jackson to a dangerous through-ball.\n<\/p>\n
Suzuki saved from Anthony Gordon as Villa again struggled to bring the ball out from the back under Barca\u2019s pressing.\n<\/p>\n
Garcia was called into action again by Johan Manzambi as the match lurched from end-to-end.\n<\/p>\n
Barcelona extended their lead early in the second half when Fermin Lopez fed Raphinha, who showed quick footwork before finding the bottom corner.\n<\/p>\n
Cancelo powered a strike narrowly over before setting up Raphinha for Barcelona\u2019s third with a superb cross with the outside of his boot.<\/p>\n
The Brazil winger, who has made the number nine position his own this season, pounced from close range for his 19th goal of the season across all competitions.\n<\/p>\n
Yamal sent a shot skidding wide as Barcelona probed for a fourth. It did not come, but the Catalan giants were able to record a first Champions League clean sheet in 19 games.\n<\/p>\n
AFP\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
Raphinha struck twice to propel Barcelona to a 3-0 Champions League win over visitors Aston Villa on Tuesday, ending the English side\u2019s perfect start to the competition. Five-time winners Barcelona… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}