FC Barcelona came frustratingly close to what would have been an eighth consecutive win away to Betis, and the continuation of their return to winning form that had begun on Tuesday in Mallorca. But a late goal for the home side meant there is only a point to show for their efforts on a dramatic afternoon in Seville.
The Catalans’ first half lead was cancelled out by a somewhat ambiguous penalty decision that, to make matters worse, also meant playing the final half hour with only ten men.
To snatch what looked like the winner under such adverse circumstances was as exhilarating as the surrender of those three points to an injury time equaliser was despairing.
The point is still enough to leave Barça five points clear of Real Madrid and six ahead of Atlético, but both those sides have two games in hand. Real visit Girona later today, and the mattress-makers host Sevilla on Sunday.
27 passes!
Barça took their time to get off the mark, but there was a clear pattern of events leading up to Robert Lewandowski’s 39th minute opener.
Betis looked lively early on, with Raphinha and Iñaki Peña coming to the rescue after two particularly dangerous early chances for Betis, the latter for Ez Abde, one of three former blaugrana men in the home side’s starting XI.
But Barça soon settled into the game, and with that the chances started to come. Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo had come closest before an extraordinary series of no fewer than 27 passes terminated with ball at the feet of the Polish Pichichi. All Lewandowski had to do was pop the ball home and start celebrating his 16th goal of the season. And yet another assist for Jules Kounde’s admirable collection!
Like the first half, the second also began with a green-and-white charge. After two headers had come worryingly close, Iñaki Peña produced perhaps the finest save of his career to leave Chimy Àvila with nothing to show for an excellent chance.
Penalty woe
Barça still had the lead, but it was starting to look very delicate, and eventually collapsed when a controversial penalty was awarded against them just past the hour mark.
It was extremely ambiguous whether Frenkie de Jong really did bring down former team-mate Vitor Roque, and it took an eternity for the officials to reach their conclusion. In the end, a red card for the Dutchman, plus another for Hansi Flick for protesting, and a chance for Giovani Lo Celso to level up from the spot. And he did.
Not only had the momentum swung against Barça, but they would be playing the final minutes a man down.
Agonising climax
Which made the reaction all the more impressive. Lamine and Ferran Torres had already come close with action that was invalidated for offside anyway when they did so again. That one was also originally disallowed, but VAR review revealed that Torres had been played onside and Barça were back in front with just eight minutes of regular time on the clock.
With only ten men on the pitch, Barça naturally opted to sit back and defend their lead. Sadly, it didn’t work out. Four minutes into injury time, Assane Diao nicked one back for the Andalusians.
There was no pattern to the dying minutes as both sides frantically tried everything to steal a late winner. Neither did and it all ended 2-2.
Attention now switches to the midweek trip to Dortmund in the Champions League, while La Liga resumes at home to Leganés next Sunday.
