Barcelona pair Robert Lewandowski and Franck Kessie have entered the Champions League's record book for their goals contribution in Wednesday's meeting with Viktoria Plzen. The duo got on the scoresheet to inspire the Blaugrana to a massive 5-1 win at Camp Nou in their first group fixture of the new campaign.
Last season, the Catalans were far from their best in the Champions League and ended up in the Europa League after failing to secure a top-two spot in their group. This season, Xavi's side find itself battling the likes of Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Group C and, as a result, the importance of opening the campaign with a win could not be overstated.
Against Viktoria Plzen, Barca needed just 13 minutes to assume the driver's seat, and it was Franck Kessie who headed home a corner to break the deadlock. The Ivorian midfielder who joined the Spanish club this summer consequently became the quickest debutant to score a goal as starter in Barca's history in the Champions League. The record was previously held by Sergio Busquets who scored in his debut against FC Basel inside the 15 minute mark back in October 2008.
In the 34th minute Robert Lewandowski became the second debutant to score for Barcelona against Plzen, coolly finishing off a pass from Sergi Roberto for his sixth goal of the season. The Polish striker secured the first of the two records he secured in the night's affair as a result, becoming the oldest player to score on his Champions League debut for Barca at the age of 34 years and 17 days.
34 - At 34 years and 17 days, Robert Lewandowski has become the oldest player to score on his Champions League #UCL debut with #FCBarcelona, surpassing Henrik Larsson's record against Celtic in September 2004 (32 years and 360 days). Veteran. pic.twitter.com/8aQWF97wb7
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) September 7, 2022
On the stroke of half-time Lewandowski got his second goal of the night after Jan Sýkora had pulled one back for the visitors. The former was able to complete his hat-trick with assistance from Ferran Torres in the 67th minute, becoming the first player to score a Champions League hat-trick for three different teams (one for Borussia Dortmund, four for Bayern Munich, one for Barcelona).
Three minutes after Lewandowski's feat Ferran Torres got on the scoresheet to make it 5-1 for Barcelona as they climbed to the summit of Group C.
