Real Betis 2-4 Barcelona
Barcelona knew that they needed to win to keep themselves in the title challenge in tact on their trip to the Benito Villamarin, with Real Madrid pulling out a two-goal comeback against Almería earlier in the day. It looked as if they had thrown two points away, but when they needed it most, Joao Felix was there.
Real Betis were causing danger early on in the match, but Luiz Henrique could not convert his lob, after Isco had lobbed the defence with a pass. Otherwise Los Verdiblancos struggled for clear chances. Barcelona grew more and more dangerous too though, and after Pedri had beaten the Betis offside trap and missed, a deflected pass found him in behind again. He squared for Ferran Torres to tap home his first.
Just three minutes into the second half, he would grab a second after excellent work from Lamine Yamal. The 16-year-old was a constant problem for Real Betis, on a night when Xavi Hernandez relied on two of them – defender Pau Cubarsi also made his first start for the Blaugrana. Lamine Yamal beat Abner Vinicius down the Betis left just after half-time, his cross coming off the post and falling to Torres on the penalty spot. He made no mistake with the finish.
From there Betis lifted it. They began applying pressure on the Blaugrana defence, and found some cracks. Ronald Araujo and Inaki Pena couldn’t clear a dropping ball, and Isco fired the half-volley into the roof of the net. Just 90 seconds later, a ball in behind the Barcelona defence found Isco again, and his lob of Pena was accurate.
The game became a slugfest at that point, both sides moving the ball quickly to the final third, but struggling for the final pass or defintive shot. In the final stages, Xavi Hernandez had brought Joao Felix for Cubarsi, throwing all they had at it, very much aware that the title was slipping away from them. Betis raided forward through Isco and Luiz Henrique, but were lacking a finisher.
In the final minute, Felix came inside, found Ferran Torres between the defenders, and got the return from him in space on the edge of the box. With the outside of his right boot, Felix found the bottom corner to rapturous celebrations.
Now into stoppage time, Betis had most of their players forward when Ferran volleyed a pass out to Lamine Yamal on the right. As Barcelona broke, the teenage protege found an incisive pass between the Betis centre-backs, for Torres to run onto. He showed no nerves about completing his hat-trick, chipping Rui Silva to seal it.
A large exhalation for Xavi and company, they were facing their season’s mortality with just minutes to go, but the vibrant offensive performance and the character showed will at least provide Culers with some hope that this could be a turning point. Betis will be frustrated they let the game slip away having worked so hard in the second half, but Ferran and Felix will grab the headlines after performances befitting their quality.
