Robert Lewandowski marked his first Champions League game for Barcelona with a hat-trick as Xavi Hernandez’s side thrashed Viktoria Plzen 5-1 at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Barca, who failed to get past the group stage last season, also saw Franck Kessie and Ferran Torres score in an accomplished display.
Lewandowski has now scored eight goals in just five appearances for his new team in all competitions.
The Catalan giants visit the Allianz Arena next Tuesday in a real test of how far they have come in the last 12 months, after Bayern’s opening 2-0 win at the San Siro.
Barca took the lead in the 13th minute as Kessie nodded the ball home after Jules Kounde had headed Ousmane Dembele’s corner back across goal.
It was the Ivorian midfielder’s first goal for the club since signing from AC Milan in the close season.
Ansu Fati almost doubled the advantage midway through the first half, but his effort was saved by visiting goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek.
The six-time European Cup winners’ next Group A outing is at home to Ajax, who could have won by more than four at home to Rangers, last season’s Europa League finalists playing in the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2010.
Edson Alvarez headed Ajax in front before a Steven Berghuis shot deflected in and a superb individual strike from Mohammed Kudus made it 3-0 to Ajax by half-time.
Steven Bergwijn pounced on a poor backpass to seal the victory late on in Amsterdam, leaving Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst to give a bleak assessment of his side’s prospects.
Victor Osimhen missed a penalty which was not enough to stop Napoli from thrashing Liverpool 4-1 in Group A Champions League clash on Wednesday.
Osimhen missed his spot kick in the 18th minute before he was replaced on 41 minutes due to knock.
Piotr Zielinski put Napoli ahead from the spot in the fifth minute after Victor Osimhen had hit the post.
Andre-Frank Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone extended Napoli’s lead, before Zielinski scored again after the break.
It was a terrible opening half from Liverpool as Joe Gomez struggled to deal with Osimhen and was relieved when the Napoli forward trudged off with an injury before half-time.
His replacement, Simeone, needed just three minutes to score on his Champions League debut as Liverpool looked shell-shocked by the home side’s relentless forward approach.
There were chances for the visitors – Van Dijk had a header well saved, Mohamed Salah struck an effort at the goalkeeper and a teasing cross bounced dangerously off Harvey Elliott’s knee at the back post.
But Liverpool were sloppy in possession – even Salah mis-controlled a good pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold when well-placed in the box – and their defensive mistakes were punished by an expressive Napoli side.
Any hope of a second-half comeback were over when Zielinski chipped a finish over Alisson from close range to make it 4-0 and though Luis Diaz curled in for an immediate response and came close with a diving header, Liverpool were deservedly beaten.
Also in Group D, Sporting Lisbon scored three second-half goals to win 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt, with former Spurs youngster Marcus Edwards, Francisco Trincao and Nuno Santos all on target.
In Group B, Antoine Griezmann headed the winner in the 11th minute of injury time as Atletico Madrid beat Porto 2-1.
In an incredible finish, Porto had Mehdi Taremi sent off late on before Mario Hermoso put Atletico ahead with a deflected 92nd-minute strike.
Hermoso then conceded a penalty for handball, allowing Matheus Uribe to equalise in the 96th minute, only for Griezmann to have the last laugh.
The only other game in Champions League history to feature three goals scored in stoppage time was Porto’s meeting with Atletico in December last year.
In Group B Club Brugge got their campaign off to a perfect start with a 1-0 win against Leverkusen with Raphael Onyedika in action.
The former Midtjylland star was replaced with seven minutes left to play.
The former Midtjylland star was replaced with seven minutes left to play.
Also on Group B, Zaidu Sanusi featured but was on the losing side in Porto’s 2-1 loss at Atletico Madrid.
At the Nou Camp Robert Lewandowski marked his Champions League debut with Barcelona with a hat-trick as the Catalans hammered Viktoria Plzen 5-1.
In other results Bayern Munich beat Inter 2-0, Tottenham Hotspur beat Marseille 2-0 and Sporting Lisbon overcame Frankfurt 3-0 away.
