Barcelona demolish ten man Betis with a 2-5 rout at La Cartuja

Lamine Yamal needed just nine minutes to make it 0-1 with a left footed strike from outside the box that curled into the top corner, and from there Barcelona never let go of a match that finished 2-5 at La Cartuja in Seville. Betis, who had fought back to level the score and even had reason for hope at the break, ended up routed, down to ten men, and watching a side that held nearly 70 percent possession overwhelm them in the second half.

The match had everything but a dull moment. After Yamal's goal, Betis responded well and equalized in the 26th minute with a header from Valentin Gomez, who arrived unmarked at the near post to finish off a corner delivered by Pablo Fornals. The tie did not last long: in the 40th minute, Rodri (the Barcelona one, not to be confused with the one at Atletico) scored with another header from a corner, this time served up by Fermin Lopez, and Barcelona went into the break ahead 1-2. Late in the first half there was still a moment that could have changed the story: a goal by Giovani Lo Celso was disallowed by VAR in minute 42, and two minutes later the referee confirmed the call.

The second half opened with what looked like a repeat script: Gabriel Jesus made it 1-3 in the 51st minute with a right footed finish assisted by Yamal, and barely a minute later Abde Ezzalzouli pulled one back with a shot from outside the area after a counterattack built by Lo Celso, making it 2-3. But things fell apart completely for Betis in the 53rd minute, when Facundo Bernal was shown a straight red card for fighting, and playing a man down against a rampant Barcelona proved fatal. Eric Garcia extended the lead in the 61st minute with a close range finish after a quickly taken free kick, and Dani Olmo sealed the rout in the 80th minute with a right footed shot from outside the box. Eric Garcia himself finished the match injured, with Barcelona already out of substitutions.

The numbers confirm the dominance

The stats make it crystal clear who controlled the game. Barcelona finished with 18 shots to Betis' 6, and possession that topped 69 percent against just over 30 percent for the home side.

The xG calculated after the fact from the match's shots also backs up the visitors' superiority: 1.381 for Betis against 2.825 for Barcelona, a gap that matches what the scoreboard showed.

What's striking is that the final result ended up even more lopsided than our pre-match projection anticipated. Before kickoff we gave Barcelona a 58 percent chance of winning, 21 percent to a draw, and another 21 percent to Betis, with expected goals of 1.44 for the home side and 2.43 for the visitors, a combined total of 3.86. The away win came true with room to spare, but the final score, seven goals in all, and the way it unfolded, with Bernal's red card in the mix, blew well past those figures.

What this means in the standings

In the LaLiga table, Barcelona arrived at this match as leaders with 27 points from 9 games played, a perfect record of 9 wins with no draws or losses. Betis, sitting third with 19 points from the same 9 matches (6 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses), were 8 points back heading into this meeting between the two sides. The rout only confirms the gap in form between both teams at this point in the season.