Barca lose victory in injury time La Liga

After being rested for the midweek win over Mallorca, Robert Lewandowski returned to the starting line-up in place of Ferran Torres. Coach Hansi Flick did not make any further changes to the squad, despite facing Dortmund in the Champions League group stage.

On Betis' side, loan striker Vitor Roque returned to face his parent club. He forced Frenkie De Jong into a foul that led to a penalty in the second half, before leaving the pitch to applause from the home fans. Betis also had three other players who had played for Barca, including Marc Bartra, Sergi Altimira and Abde Ezzalzouli. Their biggest disadvantage was that goalkeeper Rui Silva was injured during the warm-up and Fran Vieites had to play in his place.

In a raucous atmosphere at the Benito Villamarin, Betis started the game with energy and almost took the lead in the early minutes. Llorente headed the ball away from Raphinha, forcing him to clear it near the goal line, before Abde confronted and threatened goalkeeper Pena. After two sweaty moments, Barca finally responded with Yamal's unsuccessful shot.

The visitors controlled the ball better in the following minutes, but could not get close to the home team's goal. The match continued to be boring until Lewandowski opened the scoring from a precise combination in the 38th minute. After 26 consecutive passes, Kounde approached the sideline and passed the ball across for the Polish striker to easily push the ball into the goal.

This is Lewandowski's 16th goal in La Liga 2024-2025, widening the gap with the second-placed player in the race for the Golden Boot, teammate Raphinha to five goals. The third-placed player, Ante Budimir of Osasuna, has only nine goals.

Barca's opener left Betis in a lull. But after the break, the home side rallied and quickly responded. Altimira and Abde almost equalised with headers that went wide, before Chimy Avila forced a save from Pena.

The turning point came in the 60th minute, when coach Flick replaced Olmo with De Jong. Three minutes after entering the field, the Dutch midfielder fouled Roque, forcing the referee to award a penalty. Coach Flick received a straight red card for protesting the referee's decision. On the 11m mark, Lo Celso completed the task of equalizing 1-1 despite Pena guessing the right direction.

After the Argentine's goal, the match tilted in Betis' favour. Barca were forced to bring on Pau Victor and Gavi in ​​the hope of changing the game. Isco also came on for Betis after six months out with a fibula injury.

The match was lacking in excitement until Yamal set up Torres to make it 2-1 in the 82nd minute. The 17-year-old forward played the ball down the right wing, before slotting it into the box for his teammate to run down and beat goalkeeper Vieites. The goal was initially ruled out, but VAR overturned the decision, bringing joy to the visitors.

But Barca's joy did not last long. In the fourth minute of injury time, after a cross from the right, Diao cushioned the ball through Inigo's legs and into the far corner, tying the score at 2-2. The loss meant Barca had only won five of their last 15 possible points. The La Liga race heated up again when Real reduced the gap to two points and had played a game less.