Three talking points from Crvena Zvezda 2-5 Barcelona

Barca in top form

Barcelona continued their outstanding form by scoring five goals against Crvena Zvezda and securing all three points. The Catalans have now scored 24 goals in six straight wins in all competitions and just can't stop scoring.

In total, Hansi Flick's side have scored 55 goals since the start of the season, a new club record, and are so far the top scorers in both the Champions League (with 15) and La Liga (with 40), where they top the table.

Robert Lewandowski scored another brace and is now one goal shy of 100 in the Champions League, while Raphinha, as well as Fermin Lopez and Inigo Martinez, inevitably found the target to maintain his excellent start.

Lamine Yamal, for once, failed to score or provide an assist, but produced another impressive performance on the right to secure the win, which catapulted Barcelona into sixth place in the Champions League standings at half-time.

Jules Kounde in the form of his life

It's not often that full-backs steal the show, but Jules Kounde certainly did so with a hat-trick of assists for Barcelona on a memorable night for the French defender.

Kounde and Yamal tore their opponents apart on the right in the second half, with the Frenchman providing assists to Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Fermin Lopez.

It's a performance that just doesn't happen often and therefore deserves a lot of applause.

Hansi Flick is obviously a big fan and was full of praise for Kounde after the win in Belgrade.

“He is a good example for the entire team,” he said. “We have a lot of players who have improved a lot this season, increasing their performance and Jules is an absolute professional player. He is very focused on the pitch and in training. I appreciate that. It’s really nice to see that he gave the last pass to the goals today.”

We all know that Kounde would probably prefer to play as a central defender for Barcelona. The thing is, he looks like the best right-back in the world right now.

Barca look at the left-back lightly

It's a different story at the other end, where Alejandro Balde was given a breather, while Flick brought Gerard Martin into the starting line-up at left-back for the first time in the Champions League. Flick has already featured Martin eleven times this season and seems to be a big fan of the 22-year-old.

Nevertheless, Martin sees the jump into the first team as a big step and was not able to adapt as quickly as, for example, Marc Casado, Marc Bernal and Pau Cubarsi. He had another tough night on Wednesday as he kept the hosts at bay for their first goal, but hopefully he learned a lot.

Photo by PEDJA MILOSAVLJEVIC/AFP via Getty Images

However, the big worry for Barcelona going forward is whether Martin will be able to step up and achieve promotion. Flick is not blessed with options at left-back and if Balde picks up an injury, Barca could well have a problem.

Hector Fort is capable of playing on either wing but has been strangely underused this season and despite Barcelona's brilliant start to the season, this is an area of ​​the squad where the Catalans are looking a bit vulnerable at the moment.