Red Star 2 Barcelona 5: Another Yamal milestone, 10 Cubarsi stitches and 99 goals for Lewandowski

Hansi Flick said Barcelona's goal in the 2024-25 Champions League is to qualify for the knockout stages as one of the competition's top eight teams – and his side made further progress on that front in Belgrade on Wednesday night .

Barca beat Red Star Belgrade 5-2 to climb to sixth place in the 36-team competition's revamped table with nine points after half of eight league stage games. In addition, they are now the top-scoring team in this season's competition with 15 goals.

Red Star canceled out Inigo Martinez's opener, but Robert Lewandowski gave Barcelona the lead again just before half-time. Flick obviously had a word with his team during the break and they came out of the game quicker and more determined. Within 10 minutes of the second half kicking off, they had scored two more goals thanks to Lewandowski and Raphinha, finally dashing Red Star's hopes. Fermin Lopez then crowned the evening with Barcelona's fifth goal.

The athlete's Pol Ballus analyzes the game's key talking points.

Yamal marks a milestone with another great achievement

Although Lamine Yamal was not directly involved in any of his team's five goals, he once again put in an impressive performance in his 90 minutes.

He was one of Barca's most active strikers and his intense start to the second half got them going again. The third goal, prepared by Jules Kounde and scored by Lewandowski, was triggered by a fantastic run from the halfway line by Yamal, who pushed past three opponents. The fourth was also a testament to how he dominated Barca's right flank (check out his top stats in his player dashboard below).

On Monday, Yamal reached the exact age Lionel Messi was when he made his Barca debut: 17 years and 114 days. The difference is that by this point he had already played 66 games in the club's first team, scoring 13 goals and 17 assists – an unprecedented rise.

Seventeen international matches, three goals and the Euro 2024 title with Spain are also significant achievements.

And Kounde is also an attacking force

Kounde, widely known for his defensive abilities, shined in attack on Wednesday, providing three assists in 23 minutes in the second half. It was further proof of why he is one of the best right-backs in the world.

Since the start of the 2016/17 season, only four defenders have recorded three or more assists in a single Champions League game: Jordi Alba, Achraf Hakimi, Joao Cancelo and now Kounde.

Kounde overtakes Andrija Maksimovic in Belgrade (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

“He is a good example for the whole team,” said Flick after the game. “Jules is an absolute professional, on and off the pitch. It was really nice to see that he was able to make the difference in the final third tonight.”

Two summers ago, Kounde had a private conversation with Xavi, then Barcelona manager. The 25-year-old said he feels he can fulfill his true potential as a centre-back rather than a right-back, but no one at the club can imagine Kounde being a better fit for him than his current role.

Cubarsi's 10 stitches and De Jong's return

Pau Cubarsi had to be substituted in the 67th minute after Red Star's Uros Spajic accidentally put his foot in the 17-year-old's face.

Teammates requested urgent medical attention after seeing blood on Cubarsi's jaw. Flick didn't want to take any risks and replaced him with 19-year-old Sergi Dominguez.

After the game, the Barca coach said Cubarsi was fine and should return to the team on Sunday against Real Sociedad in La Liga. However, it later emerged that he needed 10 stitches to heal the wound.

Barcelona posted pictures of the defender on social media, showing the stitches on his bloodied but smiling face.

I'm ok. pic.twitter.com/lYGwsmDDAN

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 6, 2024

Another positive aspect of the game was Frenkie de Jong's first start since April and the Dutch midfielder showed off his passing versatility (below) as he continues to recover from injury.

“We had a clear plan,” said Flick. “At the weekend (against neighbors Espanyol) we decided that Dani Olmo had to play after his injury, tonight it was De Jong's turn. I'm happy that he's in the starting line-up. This is also important for the locker room because he is a leader. He was good, his start came at the right time.”

I praise Barcelona's attacking performance

With five goals in Belgrade, Flick's team broke a Barcelona record. They have scored 55 goals after 16 games this season, surpassing the 54 goals in as many games in the 1950-51 season.

A large part of this is thanks to the good partnership between Lewandowski and Raphinha.

Lewandowski's brace against Red Star took his all-time Champions League tally to 99 goals. His next chance to reach the century comes in three weeks, at home to Brest in France.

“I didn’t know that!” said Flick after the game when asked about Lewandowski’s numbers. “If I had known that, I probably wouldn’t have replaced him (in the 78th minute),” he joked.

Lewandowski celebrates his 99th Champions League goal – only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have more (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

Raphinha has already surpassed his best goal tally in a single season with Barcelona – he has scored 12 goals, two more than in each of his last two years at the club. He was involved in seven goals in the Champions League, more than any other player this season.

“The players have the confidence to last the whole season. It's not easy to train a lot – we have a lot of games. But what I have to say is that the team is doing great because they enjoy playing football,” Flick added.

(Top photo: Pedja Milosavljevic/AFP via Getty Images)