Xavi Hernandez's Barcelona pump Betis with goals to dethrone Real Madrid as league leaders.
Barcelona ran riot in their first game since the international break, putting five unreplied goals past Real Betis.
The Blaugrana continue to play their home games at Olímpic Lluís Companys Stadium with the Camp Nou under construction, and in front of a reported 50,000 crowd, they put on a show of remarkable goalscoring as they climbed to the top of LALIGA until at least tomorrow.
17:59 - 16.09.2023
Barcelona eye cast away Man United star Jadon Sancho
Barcelona are reportedly considering a move for Manchester United's Jadon Sancho.
21:14 - 14.09.2023
Barcelona may be forced to sell Frenkie de Jong as La Liga reduce salary cap by more than half
The Blaugrana could forced into key sales to balance the books as LaLiga tighten their financial belt
How it happened
Barcelona disproved the international break fever theory with their result against Betis and went hard at it from the go.
The Blaugrana opened the scoring in the 25th minute of the game when Joao Felix capitalised on weak goalkeeping by Betis’s Rui Silva before shooting at goal from a tight angle.
They made it two seven minutes later, with Felix involved once more. The Atletico Madrid loanee dummied an Andreas Christensen pass, which found its way to Robert Lewandowski. The Pole finished calmly to put Barca 2-0 up.
Betis made two changes at half-time, one tactical and one injury-enforced, but it did not cease Barcelona’s flow; in fact, they were more prolific in the second-half.
Ferran Torres made it three from a direct free-kick in the second-half, and four minutes later, Raphinha put Barcelona four up with a brilliant strike from outside the box.
The fifth goal of the game is probably the pick of the bunch, as Joao Cancelo, unaided, strides up the right flank and does his marker before burying the ball at the back of the net.