Barcelona brought Aston Villa's perfect Champions League run to an end on Tuesday night, winning 3-0 at a rain-soaked Camp Nou behind a record-setting strike from Lamine Yamal and a second-half brace from Raphinha. The result pulls the LaLiga leaders level with Villa on nine points in the standings, after the Premier League side had won all three of its European matches this season.
Yamal needed only seven minutes to make his mark. Barcelona's high press forced João Gomes into an error as Villa tried to play out from the back, and the teenager collected the loose ball, cut inside onto his left foot and curled a finish around goalkeeper Zion Suzuki. The goal was his 14th in the competition, moving him past Kylian Mbappé as the highest-scoring teenager in Champions League history.
Villa responded well to the early setback and created chances through Matty Cash, Gomes and Johan Manzambi in front of a vocal travelling support of around 3,000. Nicolas Jackson also went one-on-one with Joan García, but the Barcelona goalkeeper won that duel, and the hosts pulled away after the interval.
Raphinha doubled the lead in the 52nd minute with a strike that deflected off Pau Torres' heel and wrong-footed Suzuki. His second was far cleaner, a poacher's finish at the end of brilliant work and a precise cross from João Cancelo. Fermín López and Yamal, twice, came close to adding a fourth goal for Hansi Flick's side.
The Brazilian's brace took him to 19 goals in just 13 appearances this season, extending his lead as the top scorer across all competitions in Europe's top five leagues, with Mbappé second on 15. Together, Yamal and Raphinha have now scored 32 of Barcelona's 60 goals in 15 matches, an average of exactly four per game. Raphinha's 23 Champions League goals for the club also draw him level with Robert Lewandowski, with only Lionel Messi (120) and Luis Suárez (25) ahead of him.
It was a miserable 55th birthday for Villa manager Unai Emery, who has now won just once at Camp Nou across his long managerial career. Villa had arrived in Spain on the back of victories over Club Brugge, Fenerbahce and Viking FK, but defensive sloppiness contributed to all three goals, even if Suzuki did produce fine saves to deny Fermín and later stop the midfielder again after he dispossessed Boubacar Kamara.
There was a notable positive for Barcelona at the other end. The clean sheet was their first in the Champions League since the spring of 2025, ending a run of 18 matches stretching back to a quarterfinal first leg win over Borussia Dortmund 19 months ago. It came with a makeshift back line, too, as injuries to Eric García, Jules Koundé, Andreas Christensen and Xavi Espart left Flick with no first-team defenders on the bench. Young midfielder Brian Fariñas, who only made his debut last weekend, continued at right-back, with Gerard Martín partnering Pau Cubarsí in central defence.
Villa substitute Leon Goretzka struck the post late on, while Tammy Abraham, Ibrahim Mbaye and Ross Barkley all missed the target as the visitors' wastefulness went unpunished in the scoreline. For Barcelona, the win continues a clear recovery from back-to-back defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid last month, following Saturday's 6-1 demolition of Alaves. Flick's side now turns to Sunday's top-of-the-table clash against Atlético Madrid in LaLiga, while Villa, still firmly in control of its European fate, will look to sharpen its passing out from the back before the next test.
