Barcelona 3-0 Aston Villa: Raphinha double sees Barca go second in Champions League standings
Match report as Barcelona beat Aston Villa 3-0 in the Champions League; Raphinha's second-half double, after Lamine Yamal had opened the scoring early on, saw the hosts to a comfortable victory; Barca move above Villa into second in the league standings
Tuesday 3 November 2026 22:59, UK
Raphinha's second-half double inspired Barcelona to a 3-0 victory against Aston Villa at the Camp Nou as Unai Emery's side saw their three-game winning run in the Champions League come to an end.
Villa boss Emery returned to his homeland on his 55th birthday and with his team in great form having lost just one of their previous nine encounters, only to come crashing down in the driving Catalan rain.
The home side have been in free-scoring form this season, averaging four goals a game and they got on the scoresheet within seven minutes. Joao Gomes laid the ball on a plate to, of all people, Lamine Yamal, for the Spain forward's 13th goal of this campaign. He also has 11 assists to his name.
- As it happened | Teams | Stats | Latest: Villa
- Champions League fixtures and results | Table | Latest: Villa
Raphinha made Villa's first game at the Nou Camp for 46 years a miserable one with a quickfire double at the start of the second half to end any hopes the visitors had of getting back into the contest as Hansi Flick's side moved above their opponents into second in the table.
Key moments from the Camp Nou
7: GOAL! Suzuki goes short from the goal kick and the midfielder Joao Gomes plays a blind pass across his own penalty area, which falls straight to Lamine Yamal, who curls his shot into the far corner with ease.
19: CHANCE! Jackson breaks down the right and finds Manzambi, but he mishits the sweeping shot and it goes wide!
20: HUGE CHANCE! Jackson times his run perfectly and is played through by Manzambi, but Garcia pokes it clear after meeting the striker outside the penalty area.
26: CHANCE! Suzuki plays a dangerous pass to Joao Gomes and Barcelona pounce. The Villa goalkeeper is able to beat Gordon's shot though.
52: GOAL! Raphinha fires a shot on goal from just inside the area and a big deflection sends it trickling into the back of the net after wrong-footing Suzuki.
64: GOAL! Cancelo drives down the left but plays the cross with the outside of the boot into the box. It bends around the defence, perfectly into Raphinha's path, before it's tapped home with ease.
69: POST! Goretzka meets the corner and glances the header towards goal but it grazes the post! Jackson was there but didn't gamble to tap it in.
Merson: Villa will be rueing missed first-half chances
Sky Sports' Paul Merson on Soccer Special:
"There was not a lot [of difference between the sides] in the first half; they [Villa] shot themselves in the foot early doors. After that, they had good chances to score and should have scored at least one of them.
"Come out second half and Barcelona were different class, by far the better team. Villa really never looked like getting back into it second half.
"So a solid performance, but they'll be rueing their chances in the first half. Villa, second half, never in the game. It was a bit of a free swing tonight. And as I said, in the first half they've done well, second half not good enough."
What the manager said...
Villa boss Unai Emery on TNT Sports:
"The result is not good. A lot of things were positive but it was not enough to get the result.
"How we are building the team is clear in 90 minutes. We have young players, talented players and past players but we must try and get our structure.
"We made mistakes but we overcame these mistakes. Today, more or less, after the mistake we made, we were creating chances and facing them.
"With the chances we had in the first half, maybe it would be different, but we were not clinical. We had chances to score and did not score.
"We have nine points because we did good work. We should be realistic but, at the same time, feel good.
"We need experiences for the players. Today was very important. To use it to get better.
"Good experience, bad result. At this level, you must be ruthless and avoid mistakes."
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