Hansi Flick said the most impressive aspect of Barcelona's 3-0 win over Aston Villa in the Champions League was the performance of his defenders to earn a rare clean sheet. 

Barcelona returned to winning ways in the competition at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, with Lamine Yamal's seventh-minute strike laying the foundations for their triumph. 

Yamal capitalised on Joao Gomes' risky pass across his own goal before picking out the bottom-left corner, which proved to be a record-breaking strike. 

The 19-year-old became the teenager with the most goals in Champions League history (14), surpassing the previous record, set by Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe (13).

And two goals in 12 minutes after the break from Barcelona captain Raphinha sealed the win, but it was at the other end where Flick felt his team deserved the most praise. 

Barcelona picked up their first clean sheet in the Champions League since a 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in April 2025, ending a run of 18 games without one, while they have now won 11 of their last 13 home games in the competition against English clubs (D2).

They limited Unai Emery's team to an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.72 from their nine attempts, with only one of those forcing Joan Garcia into making a save. 

"The best thing about the match? The clean sheet. I'm very happy with that because we defended a very good attack like Aston Villa's," Flick told reporters. 

"Of course, it was important. They are a great team. We defended well, and we were happy with what we saw in defence.

"Everyone gave their maximum to finish with a clean sheet and we scored our goals. We're pleased."

A great win at home, Hansi! https://t.co/V1qqYCM81G

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 4, 2026

Barcelona have now failed to score in just one of their previous 20 home games in the Champions League (W15 D2 L3), netting 65 goals in that time (3.3 per game).

The Blaugrana have also had at least five big chances in each of their last three Champions League games for the first time since December 2020.

It was a result that saw Barcelona inflict Villa's joint-heaviest defeat in major European competition, having also lost by three goals to Royal Antwerp in September 1975 (1-4) and Inter in November 1990 (0-3), both in the UEFA Cup.

And Villa's downfall was from their own making after Gomes' mistake for Yamal's goal. No Premier League side has committed more errors leading to goals in all competitions this season than the Villans (seven, level with Sunderland).

Flick, however, said that Barcelona's opener was something they had worked on, explaining: "This is our idea of how we want to play football.

"We try to press them high, so that they make mistakes. We had this moment, were in the right position, and we pressed them well, and they made this mistake and we used it."

Flick was also on hand to explain his decision behind replacing Rodri for Marc Bernal at half-time, with the Barcelona boss citing a slight injury problem for the Spaniard. 

"We took him off at half-time because he felt some muscular pain. It'll need to wait until Wednesday before we examine that and find out more," Flick said.