The revenge of the Spanish Super Cup won in Saudi Arabia threatens a Barcelona team which has regained its best level on Arab soil. The Blaugranas arrived at the tournament in a terrible momenthaving lost all the advantage they had gained during the first months of the La Liga season. The serious victory against Athletic Club (2-0) was the prelude to a demonstration against Real Madrid (2-5) which was slightly interrupted by Szczesny’s red card.
Returning to work on the peninsula, the Barcelona team will try to overcome another round of the Copa del Rey against Real Betis, a team which is not in its best form in the Catalan capital. Manuel Pellegrini’s men were beaten in the league by Real Valladolid, who took a breath of fresh air by winning. Betis’ hopes are now focused on “the knockout tournament”where it will not be easy for them to impose themselves against a team that relaunched itself after its success in the East.
Barça must be careful, however, because his previous experiences at Lluís Companys are not good. They have lost consecutively against UD Las Palmas (1-2), Leganés (0-1) and Atlético de Madrid (1-2) and, although the sensations left during these matches were positive, the truth is that points flew away from Barcelona to greatly compromise the team’s position of Hansi Flick in the league standings.
It was not so long ago that FC Barcelona has lost 3 matches in a row at home – it was with Xavi, during the 2021-22 season and against Eintracht (2-3), Cadiz (0-1) and Rayo (0-1) -, but you have to go back much further in the history of the club to find such a dubious moment on its ground. The last time Barça failed in four consecutive matches in front of their home crowd was during the 1994-95 season.
The people of Barcelona, who do not have never lost four times in a row at homehave managed to reach this number of matches without a win during a season where Johan Cruyff was still in charge. The Dutch coach’s side began their run with a 1-0 defeat to Sevilla in November 1994, followed by a run of three consecutive 1-1 draws against Deportivo La Coruña, Gothenburg (Champions League) and Real Betis.
As for the Real Betis players, they have only won the Copa twice as visitors to Barcelona. The first time was under the Spanish Republic, in 1933-1934, where they won 1-2. The victory of the 1993-94 seasonwhich curiously took place in 1994, is much more famous. In the quarter-finals, Benito Villamarín’s team won 1-0 at the Camp Nou, whileit was only a second division cluband ended up reaching the semi-finals in improbable fashion after a 0-0 draw in the first leg.
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