On Sunday, Ousmane Dembele scored for Barcelona and assisted goals from Sergi Roberto, Robert Lewandowski, and Ferran Torres as they easily defeated Athletic Club 4-0 in LaLiga.

Barcelona is still in second place in the rankings with 28 points, three points behind Real Madrid in the lead and five points ahead of Atletico Madrid in third.

Camp Nou cheers for the brilliant Dembele – Marsden: ESPN streams LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, and more (U.S.)
Ernesto Valverde, the manager of Athletic Bilbao, was making his first trip back to Camp Nou since being fired by Barcelona in January 2020.

The Basque team enjoyed a strong start to the campaign and at one point moved up to third place in the standings, but after four straight weeks without a victory, they are currently sixth with 18 points.

Barca manager Xavi Hernandez promised to switch things up after his squad was thoroughly outplayed in their 3-1 loss to Real Madrid last week, and he kept his word.

Lewandowski served as the target man up front in a 4-2-3-1 formation on Sunday, giving Dembele the room and freedom to express himself that allowed him to flourish.

We anticipated a high-intensity match played at a fast pace, according to Xavi. We added a second midfielder to outnumber them through the middle because we anticipated a high push from them. We desired a third player in the midfield. The fact that we were equally as intense as they were, I believe, was the key.

Dembele’s soaring header from close range in the 12th minute was the first of three home goals in 10 minutes for the hosts.

In the 18th minute, a fantastic one-touch build-up play by the France forward then set Roberto through, and the Spanish full back’s goal bounced in off a defender and past a helpless Unai Simon.

Four minutes later, Lewandowski swiveled and finished with a powerful shot after Dembele sprinted down the right channel and crossed.

After crushing Villarreal in the middle of the week, Barca was on the verge of another triumph. Nevertheless, there was cause for concern for midfielder Gavi, who was in tears when replaced midway through the first half after taking a blow to the groin.

The 18-year-old has established himself as a key member of Xavi’s team and is also an essential member of the Spain team traveling to the World Cup in Qatar next month.

It appears to not be a severe issue. After the game, Xavi commented, “It was a strong blow to the muscle, but we have to wait until tomorrow for the medical test.” Dembele performed just as well up front as any of our guys have. Going forward, I have a lot of confidence in our group.

After the half, Barca slowed down a bit, but Dembele still had time to contribute another assist. Less than 20 minutes from the end, he threw the ball in from the left touchline for Torres to score from close range.

It’s obvious that we weren’t close to winning,’ Valverde stated following the game. “Barca were powerful.” At first, we tried pressing hard. They effectively handled it and punished us. Three goals in ten minutes. The second slightly kills us.

“Barca’s system astonished me,” I said. opening the pitch with “Alex” Balde and Dembele while using four midfielders. It rather surprised us.