By Ben Morse, CNNUpdated 1008 GMT (1808 HKT) September 8, 2022 Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring Barcelona's fourth goal to complete his hat-trick. (CNN)Barcelona began its 2022/23 Champions League campaign in perfect fashion on Wednesday night with Robert Lewandowski scoring an historic hat-trick on the way to a 5-1 victory over Viktoria Plzen.
New summer signing Franck Kessié headed home to open the scoring, before Lewandowski — who joined the Spanish giants from Bayern Munich during the transfer window — found his scoring touch.
The 34-year-old bent home a delightful first goal from the edge of the box before Jan Sykora headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen on the stroke of halftime to give the Czech champions a glimmer of hope.
However, Lewandowski shut that door just minutes later, his diving header at the back post reinstating Barça's two-goal lead as the first half ticked away.