Barcelona have scored 17 goals and conceded two, and Valencia have scored one

Lamine Yamal scored twice, Fermin Lopez had a hand in three goals, and Barcelona left the Mestalla on Sunday with a 5-0 win. They are the only side in La Liga to have won all four of their games. Valencia have played the same four, scored one goal and conceded nine.

Six minutes in, and it was already going one way

Lopez lifted a ball over the Valencia back line in the sixth minute and Yamal took it down and finished over the goalkeeper. Yamal had another ruled out for offside in the same opening spell, on review, by a small margin. The reprieve lasted until the 22nd, when Anthony Gordon rolled the ball into Lopez’s path and he hit it first time.

Barcelona lost Eric Garcia in the first half, after a collision with Rodri that was nobody’s fault. Rodri was making his first start since the move from Manchester City. It cost Flick nothing: Raphinha turned in Lopez’s second assist of the night five minutes after the restart, Pedri made it four in the 79th after an exchange with Dani Olmo, and Olmo set up Yamal again in the 84th. Gabriel Jesus came on late for his Barcelona debut and shot just wide.

Barcelona have conceded twice all season

Seventeen scored, two conceded, 12 points from four games. Both of the two came in one afternoon against Rayo Vallecano at the Camp Nou. Nobody else has managed a goal against them.

The lead at the top is two, not three, because Deportivo Alaves beat Osasuna 5-2 a couple of hours after Barcelona finished and moved to 10 points. Real Madrid are third on nine after losing at Real Betis on Friday.

Two of Barcelona’s four wins have been by five goals. The tightest was a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, who have been the best side they have played so far, and that is worth holding on to before the 17 gets read as a verdict on anything. What Sunday did show is how little the shape of the front line matters to this team at the moment. Yamal is 19 and takes the headlines. Lopez, playing as the left-sided eight, made two of the goals and scored the other.

Valencia have one goal in four games

Carlos Corberan’s side are 20th. One point, one goal, nine conceded, and an injury list long enough that Corberan has been setting them up to defend and little else. Sunday was the first time this season they were beaten by more than two.

The Mestalla was bad-tempered for most of the 90 minutes, which is what happens when a home crowd works out by the half hour that the game has gone. Valencia go to Sevilla on Friday. Barcelona are at home to Feyenoord on Wednesday in their opening Champions League game.

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