Barcelona bounces Betis and goes eight points ahead of Real

Barcelona beat Real Betis on the road on Wednesday night. The result, a victory on the road against a team competing for European qualification, is a huge boost for Xavi’s team. The match was tight, however, as it was between the two in January’s Supercopa de España semi-final.

Barcelona came into the game with a five-point cushioning from Real Madrid. Therefore, this match offered the Catalan club a chance for more space between the two rivals. Barcelona took advantage.

Barcelona was the better side for much of the game. Gavi, now officially registered as a first-team player with number 6, got along well with Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets in midfield. Although Barcelona, ​​as usual, held most of the ball, Betis prevented scoring in the first half. Similarly, Barcelona negated any sniff of its own goal from Betis.

In the second half, however, the game went wild. That goes for both the scoresheet and the controversy.

Barcelona and Betis warm up to drama

Despite Barcelona looking dominant for the first hour of the game, one player seemed out of place. Raphinha, unfortunately without form and confidence, never seemed to master the game.

Then, in the 65th minute, Alejandro Balde provided the antidote by tapping the Brazilian to open the match. However, the start of the move to Barcelona sparked serious anger from Betis and its supporters. A foul on Gavi stopped play, but the ball rolled away from the spot of the foul. Frenkie de Jong, ever the opportunist, started playing quickly and shot a ball down the wing to Balde. But when De Jong took the free kick, he was more than 10 meters from where Gavi went down first.