It was a festival of goals as Fermin Lopez netted a hat-trick and Marcus Rashford raised his personal tally to four goals from three Champions League games, with a brace as Barcelona thrashed Olympiacos 6-1.
Two intelligent first-half goals from Lopez put Barcelona in control, before his third, a Lamine Yamal penalty and a double by Rashford halted a short-lived fightback from Greek side Olympiacos .
After sending Yamal through on goal in the seventh minute, Lopez was on hand to finish past the defenders on the goal-line when goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis made a block but could not hold on to the ball.
The midfielder from Spanish increased Barcelona’s lead on 30 minutes when he ran on to a ball from Dro Fernandez into space, cut inside and curled a left-footed shot into the left corner.
The second half started in circumstances considered bizarre. Ayoub El Kaabi thought he had cut the deficit by half with a header, but after checking on the pitchside monitor, referee Urs Schnyder ruled out the goal for offside and instead awarded the visitors a penalty for a handball by Eric Garcia, which El Kaabi converted via the post.
Three minutes afterwards, Olympiacos midfielder Santiago Hezze was shown a second yellow card and sent off for catching Marc Casado with a flailing arm.
After Yamal became the youngest player to reach 25 Champions League appearances at 18 years and 100 days, the youngster converted a penalty after Rashford was brought down while the teengser tried to go round Tzolakis.
Barcelona continued to prospect for goals and in the 74th minute Rashford beat Tzolakis with a well-placed low finish, and then two minutes later Lopez smashed in his third from the edge of the box to become the first Spaniard to score a Champions League hat-trick for the Catalan side.
Rashford netted his second goal of the night after controlling a cross-field pass with a delightful touch.
Barcelona have six points after three matches of this season’s competition, after beating Newcastle 2-1 and losing 2-1 to PSG, who ate the reigning champions.
Olympiacos have a solitary point, and have now been defeated in their past 12 Champions League away games.
