BARCELONA: Home side Barcelona absolutely crushed Real Betis 5-0 and handed them their second loss of the ongoing La Liga 2023-24 on Saturday at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Barcelona stepped into Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, their temporary home as Camp Nou undergoes renovation, with three consecutive victories in La Liga and showed no mercy against visitors from the first whistle.
Joao Felix, making his debut for Barcelona drew first blood with a close-range strike to the bottom left corner in the 25th minute.
The home team extended their lead seven minutes later as Lewandowski scored with the assist from Andreas Christensen.
Real Betis had a chance to score as Isco picked out Willian Jose who guided the ball towards goal, however, Barcelona’s goalkeeper Ter Stegen made a one-handed save to deny the goal to the visitors.
The first half ended with a two-goal lead for the home side, and they further extended it 12 minutes into the second half as Ferran Torres scored a brilliant freekick, curling it around the wall and past Rui Silva.
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Raphinha replaced Ferran Torres and got into the action from the get-go and earned the reward with his name on the scoresheet four minutes later.
Barcelona’s second debutant in the game Joao Cancelo, also joined the fun as he strode forward, and then struck into the bottom corner in the 81st minute to close the game for the home side 5-0.
In another La Liga fixture, home side Valencia registered their third win of the season after two consecutive losses as they thumped Atletico Madrid 3-0.
Hugo Duro scored two goals in the first half to keep Valencia cruising, while Javi Guerra scored the final decisive goal in the 54th minute to seal the deal.
It was Valencia’s first win over Atletico Madrid since 2014 and steered them to the fifth place in La Liga points table with nine points.
Meanwhile, Mallora registered their first victory in the La Liga season 2023-24 at the expense of Celta Vigo at Estadio de Balaídos.
Athletic Club on the other hand earned their third win of the season as they defeated Cadiz 3-0, after a goalless first half, however, they attacked mercilessly in the second half and scored three goals in 24 minutes to seal the victory at San Mamés Stadium.