Real Betis 2-5 Barcelona: a red card turns a real contest into a rout

Barcelona won 2-5 at the Benito Villamarín on Saturday, but for an hour this did not look like a rout. Real Betis matched the league leaders goal for goal twice, drawing level at 1-1 and then cutting the gap back to 2-3, before a red card to Facundo Bernal in the 54th minute changed the shape of the game completely. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring in the 10th minute and set up a second for Gabriel Jesus after the break, finishing the afternoon with a goal and an assist.

Yamal struck first, turning in a Jules Koundé pass on 10 minutes. Betis responded three minutes before the break, Valentín Gómez heading in from a Pablo Fornals delivery to make it 1-1, only for Rodri to restore Barcelona's lead with a header of his own right on half-time. Gabriel Jesus made it 1-3 early in the second half, Yamal supplying the assist, and Abde Ezzalzouli immediately pulled one back for Betis to set up 2-3. A minute later Bernal was shown a second yellow card and sent off, leaving Betis to play the last 36 minutes with ten men. Eric García and Dani Olmo, both set up by Pau Cubarsí off the bench, completed the scoring either side of the hour mark and in the 81st minute.

Match facts

1. 10' — Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), assisted by Jules Koundé, 0-1
2. 27' — Valentín Gómez heads Real Betis level, assisted by Pablo Fornals, 1-1
3. 41' — Rodri restores Barcelona's lead, assisted by Fermín López, 1-2
4. 51' — Gabriel Jesus (Barcelona), assisted by Lamine Yamal, 1-3
5. 53' — Abde Ezzalzouli pulls Real Betis back within one, assisted by Giovani Lo Celso, 2-3
6. 54' — Facundo Bernal sent off for Real Betis (second yellow card)
7. 62' — Eric García (Barcelona), assisted by Pau Cubarsí, 2-4
8. 81' — Dani Olmo (Barcelona), assisted by Pau Cubarsí, 2-5

Match stats

Barcelona's perfect start carries on

Barcelona had not dropped a single point this season going into this match, winning every one of their first eight LaLiga games and both Champions League fixtures played so far, a run that included a 5-0 win at Elche, a 7-2 thrashing of Racing Santander and a 5-1 demolition of Feyenoord in Europe. Saturday's win at La Cartuja stretches that run to nine straight league victories and eleven in all competitions, and it came against a side sitting third in the table before kick-off — hardly a soft touch. Yamal's goal and assist, plus a hand in the move for Eric García's and Dani Olmo's goals through the Cubarsí connection, underline how many different players are contributing to a Barcelona attack that had already scored 34 goals in eight league matches before this one.

Betis made Barcelona work for it

For long spells this was not the one-sided afternoon the final score suggests. Real Betis arrived unbeaten in four of their last five league games — including wins over Real Madrid and Villarreal and Sunday's 5-2 demolition of Osasuna — and they played like it, matching Barcelona's intensity and twice dragging the scoreline back within a single goal. Valentín Gómez's header and Abde Ezzalzouli's finish were both proper top-flight goals against the division's best defence, and only Bernal's dismissal a minute after Ezzalzouli's effort took the game away from them for good. Ten men for more than half an hour against the division's in-form attack was never going to end any other way.

Where it leaves the title picture

Real Betis went into the round third on 19 points from eight games, level with Atlético Madrid and five behind Barcelona at the top. Saturday's defeat — their heaviest margin of the season after the 2-5 they suffered at Levante in August — does nothing to shift that position on this round alone, but it does widen the gap to the summit and dent a goal difference that had been one of the better ones in the division. Barcelona, already top on 24 points with a goal difference of plus-27 before kick-off, head into the derby weekend fixture against Real Madrid at Camp Nou next, on 25 October, still unbeaten and still scoring for fun.