Lewandowski doubles up as Barcelona dominate Dortmund to close on semis

There is another game to be played but on this evidence, Barcelona will do so for just the fun of it, and there may be no one having as much fun as they are right now. A semi-final place is virtually secure with a second leg to spare after all three of their fantastic forward line scored on route to a 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund at Montjuic, the last of them scored by a kid who even at 17 may have a case to be considered the best player on the continent.

Robert Lewandowski, with two, and Raphinha got the others, taking Barcelona to 144 goals this season and almost certainly to the next round and perhaps beyond. They will take some stopping; Dortmund couldn’t do it, certainly. only momentarily did they even get close on a night that began and ended with Barcelona.

The hosts started superbly, Lamine Yamal drawing a save from Gregor Kobel and then bamboozling Ramy Bensebaini, escaping the full-back with a trick before bending his shot past the far post. Raphinha then teed up Lewandowski, whose clean strike was saved by Kobel. They were only six minutes in and it was already their third sight of goal. Dortmund were being asphyxiated, shown space beyond Barcelona’s advancing back line but denied the time to play a pass into it. Denied the ball too: when they did get it, they had it taken away again, before they could settle.

Pedri and Frenkie de Jong took control, Fermín López flew about. Around them, others ran. Raphinha in particular was going at Dortmund although his best move was more about subtlety than speed, disappearing round the back of the goal and reappearing again by the other post, almost catching them with a sneaky short corner. That didn’t come off, but the next set play did, giving Barcelona the lead.

Karim Adeyemi caught Jules Koundé’s hair and from the clipped free-kick, Iñigo Martínez headed back. Pau Cubarsí, Barcelona’s other extraordinary 17-year-old, turned it goalwards. It was going in anyway but, sliding in on the line, Raphinha got the final touch – which mostly served to force a long VAR wait to see if he was offside which, to his relief, he wasn’t. It might have been two soon after when Lamine Yamal failed to find the goalscorer sprinting into space and at that point Barcelona boasted 70% of the ball.

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal (left) celebrates with Raphinha after scoring the fourth goal. Photograph: Pedro Salado/Getty Images

The game though was shifting a little, Dortmund finally finding a way through that first wave and into positions where they could threaten. Koundé had to block a Serhou Guirassy shot and then the Guinean had an extraordinary chance. But, when the ball was lifted to him by Carney Chukwuemeka, he missed it entirely, falling by the penalty spot. Already on the floor, Wojciech Szczesny watched happily as it bounced straight into his hands. The next time Dortmund broke through it was the referee Espen Eskas who stopped them, but they kept flowing through in those final minutes of the half.

Twice Chukwuemeka had shots blocked, Szczesny saving Gittens follow up the second time. Next a fantastic ball from Adeyemi just evaded Guirassy, who then cut away from Cubarsí inside the area and smashed into the side netting.

Barcelona went in at half-time thankful to still have the lead, then came back out and doubled it, any fear there may have been swiftly forgotten.

Pedri spread yet another expertly weighted ball wide and what followed was like something from the volleyball court: three men, three touches, a flawless sequence. Up, across and down. Lamine Yamal’s perfect, almost gentle looping ball found Raphinha standing at the far side of the net and he provided the set. Leaping, virtually on the line, he he headed it back across the net, over and past the man protecting it, and there was Lewandowski to finish off the move.

Dortmund, it seemed, were done – and the third followed fast, which is not to say immediately. By the time Barcelona worked the ball out from their own area and Fermín played a one-two with Lamine Yamal to set up Lewandowski to score, it was their fourth chance in as many minutes and Fermín had hit post and bar. Those came on 62min and 64min. Between them, on 63min, Kobel denied Lewandowski. Two minutes later he could not, the ball squeezing under his body and into the net.

It was another superb goal, executed with speed and precision, and there would be more. Raphinha sprinted away into space and bent the ball into the path of Lamine Yamal, who controlled and, with the point of his boot, guided in the fourth as if he was still on the playground and it was easy. Which not so long ago he was and which, in the end, it had been.