Robert Lewandowski is back for Barcelona after scoring the decisive goal as the Blaugrana won Real Betis 2-1 to go eight points atop the La Liga table.
The first 45 minutes was quiet, with neither side showing any strong desire to go forward and score goals. That changed shortly after halftime, and the game truly picked up with a charged momentum with a half-hour to go.
Raphinha, who had struggled to keep the ball all match, cropped up for the opening goal, meeting Alex Balde’s cross to put Barcelona in front on 65 minutes. Then Lewandowski, whose use to the Barcelona attack was clear for all to see during his three-match suspension, provided a striker’s finish for his team’s second to put the game away.
The end of the match was a bit awkward after Jules Kounde put the ball in his own net to give Real Betis hope, but the hosts were poor throughout the match, providing little threat to the attacking third, and they were unable to take advantage of the late misstep by Barcelona.
Barca is top on 50 points, eight points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and will host struggling Valencia on Thursday. Betis are sixth on 31 points.
Barcelona’s manager Xavi Hernandez was happy with the win for his LaLiga leaders, whose points tally midway through the season has them on track to potentially beat the single-season record of 100 held jointly between the Catalans and Real Madrid.
“I think we played really well. I would say we were excellent in many phases of the game. We could have sentenced the game with Ansu header to make it 3-0. But it was a great performance. I am really happy with the performance as much as the result, Xavi said after the match.
“We took the ball off a team that has it a lot. We improved a lot from [Saturday’s win] at Girona.”
Though Barcelona controlled the game, many of their strikes were foiled by goalkeeper Rui Silva who made three good saves to deny Pedri.
Betis too had its own chances on the counter-attack and almost scored through Borja Iglesias and Sergio Canales.
It took 65 minutes for Barcelona to break the deadlock with Raphinha tapping home from close-range before Lewandowski, scored from a corner kick, after just coming back from a three weeks suspension.
Barcelona defender Jules Kounde mistakenly scored an own goal while trying to chest off Youssouf Sabaly’s cross.