This is the way forward. Barça swept aside Villarreal with a commanding, all-round performance that should inject real confidence ahead of what lies just around the corner: the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg, the Champions League round of 16, and a decisive stretch in La Liga.

All of it came on a special night. It was Hansi Flick’s 100th game in charge of the blaugrana. The German coach was delighted, “not just with the result, but with the way we played.” And although it would have been easy to focus solely on Lamine Yamal’s hat-trick, Flick was keen to highlight the collective effort.

“I want to praise the whole team,” he said. “When we lost the ball, we pressed very well, and that’s what we need.”

Still, he had special words for his number 10: “He’s exceptional and he’s here to make people happy. We need his goals to give him confidence. He’s very young and he still has to improve, but everyone knows the quality he has. Opponents put two or three players on him and that makes it difficult. Today I’m very happy for him. When he enjoys his football, it’s perfect for him and for us.”

Those positive feelings will be essential on Tuesday night, when Barça attempt an epic comeback after the 4–0 first-leg defeat to Atlético Madrid in the cup semi-finals.

“It won’t be easy, we know that, but we’ll give everything" said the coach. "We have to fight together for 90 minutes, or maybe even more. Anything is possible. We’ll try and see what happens.”

A memorable evening for the coach in his 100th match, made even more special "because my family is here and they were able to see another win.”

And he will be hoping there are many more to come.

Força Barça