Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha have been heading in the right direction as Barcelona thrashed 10-man Real Betis 4-0 on Saturday to tighten their grip on best spot and moved a step nearer to their twenty seventh LaLiga name.
With handiest six video games ultimate, Barca recovered from a disappointing midweek loss at Rayo Vallecano and moved to 79 issues and prolonged their result in 11 issues over second-placed Real Madrid, whilst Betis stay 6th on 49 issues.
Christensen opened the scoring for Barcelona within the 14th minute with a point-blank header following a pass from Raphinha.
Barca’s activity used to be made more uncomplicated by way of Betis defender Edgar Gonzalez, who got here off the bench within the twelfth minute to exchange an injured Luiz Felipe however used to be despatched off 21 mins later after seeing two yellow playing cards for 2 unhealthy tackles.
The locals made essentially the most in their benefit earlier than the destroy, scoring two times inside 3 mins because of moves by way of Lewandowski and Raphinha.
LaLiga best scorer Lewandowski larger his haul to 19 for the season with a primary contact shot from throughout the field assisted by way of Jules Kounde within the thirty sixth minute.
Raphinha needed to wait a few mins to rejoice scoring Barca’s 3rd because the assistant referee had first of all dominated out his effort for offside earlier than the verdict used to be overturned following a VAR replay.
“It’s always fine to score and assist, but I think I can always do better,” Raphinha instructed Movistar Plus.
“The ultimate sport used to be very tricky, we had to reply and profitable by way of a big margin used to be vital to have extra self assurance.
“(Manager) Xavi (Hernandez) warned us and we all know what we will do and what we lacked towards Rayo. We wanted just a little extra perspective, wanted to stick with the ball, and if we wish to win the league it needs to be like that during each sport.
Barca took their foot off the pedal after the destroy, ok with seeing out the sport, however controlled to increase their lead because of an own-goal by way of defender Guido Rodriguez, who scored whilst seeking to transparent an Ansu Fati pass within the six-yard. field.
With the win secured, 15-year-old winger Lamine Yamal turned into Barca’s youngest ever debutant when he used to be introduced off the bench by way of trainer Xavi.