Robert Lewandowski warmed up for next week's meeting with former club Bayern Munich by scoring a magnificent hat-trick in Barcelona's crushing Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen.

The 34-year-old Poland forward demonstrated his value by making it eight goals in five games since leaving Bayern in July.

Lewandowski, who helped Bayern win the competition in 2019-20, marked his first Champions League appearance for Barca with a clinical finish which doubled the lead after Franck Kessie had headed the hosts ahead.

He then made it 3-1 on the stroke of half-time with a header after Ousmane Dembele did well to win back possession before producing a fine cross.

Viktoria Plzen had briefly given their travelling fans from the Czech Republic something to cheer when Jan Sykora headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but Barca - and Lewandowski - proved far too strong.

Lewandowski completed his hat-trick after 67 minutes following an assist by former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres, who added the fifth.

Lewandowski is the first player to score a Champions League hat-trick for three different teams - Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

He has now scored 32 goals in his last 20 Champions League group stage matches.

This result was the perfect start to Group C for Barcelona, who face Bayern - 2-0 winners at Inter Milan - next Tuesday.