By
Sulaimon Jamiu
Robert Lewandowski was the star of the show as Barcelona kicked off their Champions League campaign in style, with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Viktoria Plzen.
The Polish international marked his first European appearance for the Blaugrana with a memorable hat-trick, becoming the first player to achieve the feat in the competition for three different clubs.
It took Barcelona just 13 minutes to open the scoring thanks to Franck Kessie’s strike, from Ousmane Dembele’s cross which was initially won by Jules Kounde, before the midfielder got his head onto it for his first of the campaign.
Viktoria Plzen thought they were awarded a penalty after 24 minutes when Andreas Christensen looked to have brought down Jhon Mosquera in the box.
However, replays showed it was the Barcelona defender who was fouled first, with VAR overturning the decision.
The Spanish giants doubled their advantage through Lewandowski, who collected a Sergi Roberto pass outside the box, and after moving the ball onto his right, fired a beauty into the bottom corner for his first Champions League goal for the Barcelona.
Plzen cut into the lead against the run of play before the end of the half time off a quick counter, when Jan Sykora was left all alone to header home.
However, the good news was short-lived for the Czech side as Lewandowski doubled his tally in injury time through Dembele, won the ball back with a sliding challenge and fired a perfect cross to the far post that Lewandowski headed home.
Lewandowski capped off his memorable night with a third in the 67th minute, curling a wondrous effort from outside the box into the bottom corner, while Ferran Torres made it 5-1 by volleying home a perfect Dembele pass minutes later.
