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• Barcelona must 'work hard' to achieve Champions League glory, says Flick

  Hansi Flick tempered expectations of Barcelona's chances of silverware in his first season in charge ahead of facing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League. 

  Flick has led Barca to 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions, scoring 50 goals in those games while conceding just 14 times. 

  Some standout matches have seen Barca thrash Clasico rivals Real Madrid 4-0 while also brushing aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League in their last match in the competition. 

  While Flick understood the fans' excitement after those results, he urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still in front of them. 

  "We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League)," Flick said. 

  "For the moment, we're going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we'll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.

  "A team's form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed.

  "But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight."

  Flick, however, insisted he was not surprised by his side's impressive start to the campaign despite enduring a trophyless season last term. 

  Barca are nine points clear at the top of LaLiga and 11th in the Champions League table ahead of facing Red Star, who are without a win from their three games so far.

  "Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall," Flick said.

  "Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.

  "The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot.

  "The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve."

  And Barca will be confident of keeping their fine form going against a side that has lost 81% of their matches in the Champions League (P21 W2 D2 L17). 

  This is the first European meeting between the two sides since October 1996 in the Cup Winners’ Cup, a 1-1 draw with Giovanni cancelling out a Zoran Jovicic's opener for the Serbians.

• Neymar suffers fresh injury blow

  Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.

  Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.

  But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.

  The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.

  Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.

  He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.

• Barcelona 3-1 Espanyol: Olmo brace sends Blaugrana nine points clear

  Barcelona moved nine points clear at the LaLiga summit following a 3-1 victory over Espanyol in the Catalan derby.

  Dani Olmo scored twice while Raphinha was also on target as Hansi Flick's side stretched their advantage over second-place Real Madrid, whose scheduled showdown with Valencia this weekend was postponed.

  Barca broke the deadlock after just 12 minutes. Olmo latched onto Lamine Yamal's brilliant throughball with the outside of his boot, before beating Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia with a well-taken first-time finish.

  The hosts doubled their lead 11 minutes later with Marc Casado finding Raphinha, who bravely lifted over the advancing Garcia.

  It was 3-0 just after the half-hour mark, as Olmo received Alejandro Balde's pass before drilling home from the edge of the penalty area.

  Espanyol, who saw two goals disallowed following VAR reviews, pulled one back when Javi Puado turned home Carlos Romero's cross in the 63rd minute.

  However, it proved a consolation for the visitors, who suffered their sixth defeat in seven league games. 

  Data Debrief: Free-scoring Barca maintain derby dominance

  Now unbeaten in 27 LaLiga derbies against Espanyol, Barcelona have now scored 40 goals this season; their second-highest tally after the first 12 games of a LaLiga season (42 in 1950-51).

  Following Olmo's brace, which took his tally for the campaign to five, the Blaugrana are the only team with four different players to have scored at least five goals in Europe's top five leagues this term.

  In setting up Raphinha's goal, Casado is the first Barca player from Spain to provide an assist in three successive games in all competitions since at least the 2014-15 season.