Robert Lewandowski hits hat-trick as Barcelona crush Viktoria Plzen

Polish striker is an instant hot at Camp Nou

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring in the 5-1 win against Viktoria Plzen at Camp Nou on September 7. Reuters

Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie celebrates after scoring the first against Viktoria Plzen. AFP

Franck Kessie celebrates with teammate Jules Kounde. Getty

Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring Barca's second goal. AP

Viktoria Pilsen's Jan Sykora celebrates after scoring to reduce the deficit. EPA

Robert Lewandowski after scoring Barca's third goal. Getty

Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring Barca's third goal. Getty

And a hat-trick for Robert Lewandowski against Viktoria Plzen at the Camp Nou. AP

Robert Lewandowski celebrates his hat-trick to put Barca 4-1 ahead. AP

Ferran Torres adds Barca's fifth. Getty

Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick as Barcelona opened their Champions League campaign with a comfortable 5-1 win over Viktoria Plzen at Camp Nou.

Franck Kessie headed the La Liga side in front after 13 minutes, before Plzen thought they had been awarded a penalty for a foul by Andreas Christensen on winger John Mosquera but the decision was overturned following a VAR review.

Lewandowski slotted in a second on 34 minutes, his sixth Barcelona goal since a summer move from Bayern Munich.

Jan Sykora had the travelling Czech support celebrating when he headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen, with VAR ruling the goal onside.

Lewandowski, though, further extended Barca’s lead when he nodded in a cross from Ousmane Dembele during first-half stoppage time.

The Poland striker completed his treble in the 67th minute when he fired home a volley from the edge of the Plzen penalty area, taking his personal tally to 89 Champions League goals, with substitute Ferran Torres adding a fifth.

In the other Group C game, Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Inter Milan with an early strike from Leroy Sane and a second-half own goal from defender Danilo D’Ambrosio.

Rangers’ first game back in the Champions League group stage after a 12-year absence ended with a 4-0 defeat at Ajax – where the Scottish side were 3-0 down inside 33 minutes.

Edson Alvarez, Steven Berghuis and Mohammed Kudus put the Dutchmen in total control, before Rangers defender Borna Barisic saw a second-half goal ruled out by VAR and Steven Bergwijn added a fourth with 10 minutes left.

Sporting Lisbon won 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt with second-half goals from Marcus Edwards, Trincao and Nuno Santos.

In Group B, there was late drama at the Metropolitano Stadium as Antoine Griezmann came off the bench to score deep into stoppage time as Atletico Madrid beat Porto 2-1.

There was a lengthy delay during the second half as Porto midfielder Otavio was carried off on a stretcher after a collision.

Porto were then reduced to 10 men with nine minutes left after forward Mehdi Taremi collected a second yellow card.

Atletico thought they had won it when Mario Hermoso’s shot was deflected in at the start of some 11 minutes of added time, only for Mateus Uribe to equalise from the penalty spot following a handball.

There was, though, late drama as Griezmann – again brought off the bench just after the hour amid reports the club did not want to trigger a clause to buy him on a permanent basis from Barca – nodded in from a corner to spark wild celebrations from the home support.

Club Brugge beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 at the Jan Breydel Stadium with a goal from defender Abakar Sylla late in the first half after keeper Lukas Hradecky fell with the ball over the line from a corner.