Wednesday night was a memorable one for FC Barcelona as they thrashed Viktoria Plzen 5-1 in their opening game of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League at Spotify Camp Nou.
The rout was led by a stunning hat-trick from Robert Lewandowski while Franck Kessie and Ferran Torres also got into the goalscoring act on the night. Ousmane Dembele also put in a stellar display for the hosts as they jumped to the top of Group C, ahead of Bayern Munich.
The occasion also saw teenage prospect Pablo Torre make his first-team debut for Barcelona. Arriving from Racing Santander in the summer, the 19-year-old was yet to play a single minute of football.
However, he got his chance on Wednesday against Viktoria Plzen when he came on to replace Kessie with a little under ten minutes left on the clock.
“It was one of the happiest nights of my life. When we were scoring goals, I thought I was going to come on. Xavi told me to go on the pitch and have fun,” Torre said after the game speaking of his debut.
Talking about the atmosphere at Spotify Camp Nou, the youngster said: “Barcelona have one of, if not the best, teams in the world right now.”
The 19-year-old proceeded to thank manager Xavi for the opportunity, saying: “I want to thank Xavi for the opportunity. It’s not easy to trust a young player, especially when they’ve just signed for Barça.”
There was a moment during the match when Xavi handed Torre a note from the sidelines to pass it on to Ferran Torres. When asked about the note, the youngster responded: “I don’t know what the paper said. I just gave it to Ferran.”
Having finally made his debut for Barcelona, Torre will be hoping to feature much more prominently going forward as he does not wish to play for the club’s Atletic side.
