BARCELONA: Andreas Christensen, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha scored goals as Barcelona outclassed 10-man Real Betis 4-0 on Saturday to consolidate their position at the top and moved a step closer to their 27th LaLiga title.
With only six games remaining, Barca dominate the standing with 79 points, 11 ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who beat Almeria 4-2 earlier in the evening.
The result took Barca back on track after they faced a surprise 2-1 defeat to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.
Barcelona opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a point-blank header from Christensen following a cross from Raphinha.
Unsettled Betis suffered a setback in the 33rd minute when Edgar Gonzalez was sent off for two bad bad tackles, 21 minutes after he came off the bench to replace injured Luis Felipe.
The host capitalized on the advantage, scoring twice within three minutes before the break thanks to strikes by Lewandowski and Raphinha.
LaLiga top scorer Lewandowski increased his tally to 19 for the season with a first-touch shot from inside the box assisted by Jules Kounde in the 36th minute.
A couple of minutes later Raphinha hit Barca’s third goal of the night but the effort was initially ruled out his effort for offside before a VAR check overturned the decision.
With a victory in sight, the Catalan side relaxed a bit after the break but still managed to extend their lead through Guido Rodriguez’s own goal while he was trying to clear a cross from Ansu Fati inside six yards.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, thrashed Almeria 4-2 at Bernabeu after Karim Benzema scored thrice in the first half and a goal from Rodrygo in the second half.
The hat trick saw the French forward surpass Hugo Sanchez as the fourth-highest scorer in La Liga history with 236 goals.
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