Barcelona dominated the visiting Real Betis 5-0 on Saturday, moving to the top of the LaLiga standings provisolly.
After five games, Xavi Hernandez’s team has 13 points, one more than Real Madrid, who play Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Joao Felix gave Barcelona the lead with a shot from a tight angle after missing his initial attempt after an excellent Oriol Romeu cross.
“I had a bad shot on the goal but I kept looking for the ball and finally scored,” the 23-year-old Felix told Movistar Plus.
“Everyone did very well. Everyone was where they should be. When you have a good structure and the ball circulates quickly, the spaces and the goals appear”.
“I’m working to be at my best. The team spirit great. It’s easy to play among them. I’m very happy here.”
Following a clever move in which Andreas Christensen slipped a pass to Felix, who left the ball for the Poland striker to easily finish, Robert Lewandowski increased the lead.
Substitute Raphinha added a goal from the edge of the area to make it 4-0 after Ferran Torres had already scored his third goal of the game in the 62nd minute.
“I didn’t know we hadn’t scored from a free-kick since Messi,” Torres said after scoring the first free-kick goal for Barcelona since May 2021.
“It could have been someone else but I’m glad it was me of course. The unseen training pays off, we are a team that has made a big qualitative leap forward. I’m full of confidence.”
Nine minutes from the end, Joao Cancelo completed the sweep by scoring his first goal since joining Barca on loan from Manchester City.
In response to the victory, coach Xavi said: It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was amazing. We experienced many wonderful moments. This is how to do it.
Tuesday sees Barcelona’s Champions League debut against Antwerp before facing Celta Vigo in LaLiga.
