A colossal Barça, led by the extraordinary 17-year-old nugget, crushed Betis in a match which proves that the party continues.
Barcelona started 2025 with great fanfare. From an institutional point of view, the first fortnight was a real merry-go-round, but on the pitch, Flick’s team is a real marvel, led by the phenomenal Lamine Yamal, supported by a team in heavenly form. Barca qualified for the Copa quarter-finals after beating Betis 5-1, but no one would have been surprised if the score had been seven or eight goals for the Catalans, who dismantled the team by Pellegrini during a match where VAR seemed to oppose the art of football.
Flick’s rotations served as both a rest for the players and a test for the future, especially in the case of Lewandowski. With Ansu out of the picture and Ferran Torres failing to make much of an impression, the German used the Copa to experiment with Dani Olmo in the false nine. In midfield, De Jong took advantage of another opportunity to shed his usual suspect label.
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The new idea of placing Dani Olmo in an undetectable position for Betis has proven to be a complete success. Barca decimated Betis in a sensational match that continued the beating the Catalans inflicted on Madrid in Jeddah on Sunday. Within three minutes, Gavi received a pass from Olmo and opened the scoring. From there, the torment began for Betis, who held on thanks to Vieites, who denied three more Barcelona goals after 30 minutes, aided by the post.
Betis struggled to cross the halfway line, forcing Flick’s men to remain demoralized by the scoreline at 1-0 – a result far too short for a match dominated by Pedri, a rampaging Gavi, an invisible Olmo for the defense Betis and a Lamine Yamal which is worth the price of entry.
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The 17-year-old winger showed a recital of dribbling, controlling and passing that transformed his partner on the flank, Koundé, into Cafu. The Frenchman made it 2-0 after a fabulous move from Barça with Lamine Yamal’s final pass and even scored another goal, even better, which was canceled by the VAR with a simple shoe length. VAR versus art.
To Betis’ credit, despite a brilliant first half dominated by Barca, they never lost face in the match, even when Ruibal had to come off due to injury in the 23rd minute. Capitalizing on Barça’s weakness on Gerard Martín’s flank, Vitor Roque had a chance to score, but Iñaki Peña proved he is not ready to relinquish his starting spot.
Betis stepped up the pressure at the start of the second half, but Barça, led by a rampaging Lamine Yamal, exploited the spaces. The Blaugrana star scored the third, but the VAR insisted it was still against the art. Another sensational goal was disallowed after the video brought back the action two minutes before the goal. The move angered Lamine, who moments later grabbed the ball at the edge of his area, ran down the pitch, leaving Bartra and Raphinha on the ground, and collected a rebound to score the third goal. This time the VAR could not object. Barça continued to press. Everything was going well. Ferran came in, and with his very first touch he made it 4-0.
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And, as if to signal justice, Lamine scored the fifth. The assistant canceled the goal first, but this time even the VAR machine felt ashamed to cancel the goal. Lamine secured his goal and was then able to head to the bench after a sensational match, which Vitor Roque embellished with a consolation penalty. This Barça, led by Lamine Yamal, started the year on a high note.
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