Spanish La Liga giants, Football Club Barcelona suffered a heavy massive defeat at home to Real Betis on Sunday in a match that saw midfield maestro, Ivan Rakitic sent off.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Real Betis have failed to win in their last 16 La Liga games at Camp Nou and have not won in the league against Barcelona for 10 years.
Barcelona got the action started after Luiz Suarez was awarded with La Liga’s Player of the Month award for October.
Betis continued to face a constant wave of Barcelona pressure in the early stages of the game as the visitors struggle to get out of their own penalty area, with Ernesto Valverde’s high press proving to be effective.
However, the first goal of the game went to Betis’s way from Junior Firpo.
The visitors hit on the counter as William Carvalho feeds a ball through the defence to Junior, who has no support but beats Sergi Roberto and shifts the ball onto his right foot before drilling a finish past Ter Stegen at the near post.
Leo Messi grew into the game as he skips through the midfield before being hauled back by Andres Guardado, who picks up the game’s first yellow card.
The free-kick was floated into the middle by Messi and Clement Lenglet lunges to volley an effort at goal.
Pau Lopez was equal to the effort though as he pushes the ball behind with a strong hand and the resulting corner came to nothing.
Suarez struggled to establish a foothold in the game as Real Betis did extremely well to limit his opportunities in possession.
Barcelona looked shellshocked by Betis’ style of play and continued to struggle.
The visitors were the side to find goal the second time.
Betis found space in the wide positions and again they make it count! Junior’s drilled cross goes all the way through and Cristian Tello pulls a pass back across goal where Joaquin provides a one-touch finish to double Betis’ advantage.
Real Betis looked unstoppable on the counter and looked like extending their lead in every attack.
Rakitic tried to snatch possession off Joaquin on the edge of Betis’ penalty area but instead conceded a foul, picking up a booking in the process.
Betis went into the second half with the two-goal advantage.
Barcelona was only able to pull one back with a penalty from Messi, who smashed the penalty into the top corner, giving Lopez no chance at minute 69.
However, Betis puts the game at 1:3 after a disastrous display from Ter Stegen.
Tello drags a ball back into the middle where Lo Celso strikes at goal but it is straight at the Germany international. However, he is unable to clutch onto possession and only palms the effort over his head and into the net.
Barcelona got back into fray at minute 79 as Messi played a killer pass through the defence to Munir, who unselfishly taps the ball across to Vidal, who tucks home into an empty net.
Rakitic got his marching order at minute 81 after he lunged in on Lo Celso in midfield and picks up a deserved yellow card, which sees the referee issuing the marching orders to the Croatia midfielder.
Betis unbelievably put a 4th past Barcelona after Junior finds space beyond Roberto and drills a superb ball into the middle where Canales is lurking, stabbing home easily just inside the six-yard box.
Barcelona pulls a controversial goal by the effort of Vidal, who found space inside the area and latches onto Suarez’s inviting pass through, then tapping the ball across for Messi to tuck home easily.
Real Betis pleaded for offside and, after a delay for a VAR check, the goal was awarded.
Defeat for Barcelona means they sit just one point ahead of Atletico Madrid, setting things up very nicely for their trip to the capital to tackle Diego Simeone’s side after the international break.
Meanwhile, Real Betis rise to 12th in the table and are now just a single point behind the top-seven and tackle Villarreal in two week’s time.
