This is the best Barcelona have looked under Hansi Flick

Another Barcelona goal-fest.

The Catalans’ splendid start to the season continued in sensational fashion on Wednesday night, as Hansi Flick’s side made it six wins from six in search of a third straight La Liga title with a 7-2 victory over promoted Racing Santander.

Barca have scored 28 goals in La Liga this term (33 in seven matches including their Champions League opener) and in all honesty, Racing might well have conceded more.

Raphinha got a hat-trick, Joao Cancelo hit two screamers and Lamine Yamal and Gabriel Jesus also found the net, but Yamal missed a penalty and the team could have put away several other good chances.

Barca ended the match on 6.65 expected goals, the highest such figure in a La Liga game under Flick, suggesting their goalscoring chances were of a high quality. They are not just scoring out of nowhere — they are creating more than enough to back up these outrageous attacking numbers.

“Honestly, it is madness,” Racing Santander midfielder Sergio Canales told DAZN when asked about Barcelona’s performance.

“The level they have in all departments is superior. Their high pressing is great, and in the middle block and low block, they all know what to do. What else can I say that other fans can’t see? Everyone who watches a Barca match realises every game they play is just the same. You see it on TV beforehand, but it just happens again on the pitch.”

Since Flick’s return three years ago, Barca have never looked as dominant as they do now, and this is because they’ve never had a better team.

After the Julian Alvarez saga that defined their summer search for a new No 9 ended in disappointment, there can be zero worries at all about the state of Barcelona’s front line.

In terms of the central striker, you can’t really imagine a better fit for the role than this new version of Raphinha. The Brazil forward, 29, has 11 goals from seven appearances in all competitions.

Flick’s attack has been a work in progress over the past two years, and we are seeing it come to full fruition. It is a mobile, versatile and aggressive system, boosted significantly by the arrivals of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi, even if Alvarez ended up staying at Atletico Madrid.

Gordon has already become a fan favourite. Last night, it was Adeyemi’s turn to start on the left, and he put in a scintillating display. His pace was simply too much for any Racing defender to cope with. Barca paid Borussia Dortmund an initial €22million (£18.8m; $22.2m), and that fee is increasingly looking like an absolute steal.

On top of that, Flick has a more mature core of the team. Yamal is back in his best form and keeps getting better. He already has seven goals and two assists in La Liga. There is already real experience throughout the squad, as well as quality. Pedri, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, Eric Garcia and Pau Cubarsi are all players on the way up who have gone through bad and great times in recent seasons.

Add the arrival of Rodri into all that and you have another huge factor behind Barca’s upgrade. Against Racing, he and Pedri controlled midfield but still left you with the impression that neither was playing at full gas, mainly because they did not need to. Flick subbed them both off after 61 minutes, resting them with Saturday’s trip to Sevilla in mind. Sevilla are fourth in the table, five points behind Barca.

This week, multiple players spoke about the Champions League as their target. Rodri told Mundo Deportivo he “thinks they can win” the competition but that Barca “can’t be favourites to do it”.

How far can they go? As enjoyable and impressive as this season start has been, that question has to remain open for now. Barca have not really been tested this term.

Arguably the best side they’ve faced was Athletic Club (a 2-0 home win on August 27). They started in the Champions League with a 5-1 victory over Feyenoord at the Camp Nou and the other teams they’ve faced in La Liga (apart from Athletic) have been tipped to end in the bottom half.

After the international break, it will be another story.

Between October 17 and November 8, Barca will be facing, among others, Real Betis, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Aston Villa and Atletico Madrid. This will certainly require an extra level of consistency, and Flick will need his whole rotation to provide a cutting edge when it matters most.

Make no mistake, though. Barca are one of the most exciting, outrageous, must-watch teams in world football.