'It was revenge!' - Raphinha admits Barcelona's thrashing of Bayern Munich was 'for the fans' after years of humiliation at hands of German giants

Barcelona hosted Bayern Munich earlier this week in an early heavyweight encounter of the Champions League's new league phase. The match lived up to the billing as the Catalan side cruised to a 4-1 win thanks to Raphinha's hat-trick on a night where everything seemed to go right for Hansi Flick's men.

Before this week's 4-1 victory for Barcelona, the last nine matches between the two sides had seen Bayern win eight times, including their famous 8-2 triumph back in 2020. The Catalan side's hat-trick hero, Raphinha, has now revealed that their win at Estadi Olimpic was 'revenge' for the amount of hurt the club had faced at the hands of Bayern.

Speaking to the media post-match, Raphinha said: "It was revenge for the fans I think. For us on the inside, the players, we don't look at the past. We focus on the next game.

"But I suffered those games as a fan, too. It's been an amazing, special night, scoring [a hat trick] on my 100th game for the club. I am very happy with the performance and how we played. As a team, we played really well and that's the most important thing for me. Getting that second win in the Champions League was important."

Owing to the new Champions League format, Barcelona will not face Bayern Munich again at this stage of the tournament but could possibly face them again in the knockout stages, if both sides qualify. Barca are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Real Madrid in El Clasico.