Barcelona lost 0-1 to Real Betis in the continuation of the LaLiga Santander in the match which was held at the Camp Nou Stadium, Saturday (4/12).
The match against Real Betis which took place at the Blaugrana headquarters was very special for Jordi Alba. The 32-year-old full-back is playing his 400th game for Barcelona. This record makes Jordi Alba the 15th player to reach 400 appearances for FC Barcelona in all competitions.
In this match, coach Xavi fielded a squad with a number of young players, including 19-year-old Moroccan winger Abdessamad Ezzalzouli.
Despite dominating the match, Barcelona struggled to build chances in the first half. While Betis was able to put up a tight fight.
Barcelona got a golden opportunity in the 11th minute through a slick collaboration between Philippe Coutinho, Memphis Depay, and Jordi Alba. Unfortunately, Coutinho failed to take advantage of the opportunity despite having faced Rui Silva in the penalty box.
Meanwhile, Real Betis tried to surprise the hosts through Hector Bellerin, a former Barcelona academy graduate eight minutes later.
But unfortunately, Bellerin’s shot from outside the penalty box still deviated far above the crossbar of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Towards the end of the first half, Real Betis got a good chance from Sergio Canales, but unfortunately his shot ended up straying far over the crossbar.
Not many golden opportunities occurred in the first half and forced both teams to settle for a goalless draw.
Entering the second half, Betis had a chance to make a surprise by vibrating the Barcelona goal in the 52nd minute through Juanmi’s flick. However, the goal was disallowed because Juanmi was already in an offside position.
Ousmane Dembele almost broke the deadlock in the 61st minute. However, a right footed shot from the edge of the penalty box was still slightly off the left side of the Betis goal. A minute later, Dembele fired another long-range shot but to no avail.
Instead of scoring a goal, the host’s goal was conceded in the 79th minute. It was Juanmi who became a disaster for Andre Ter Stegen. Receiving a pass from Cristian Tello, the unmarked Juanmi managed to beat Ter Stegen.
Barcelona tried to catch up by launching a barrage of attacks. Unfortunately, the efforts built by the Blaugrana never yielded results until the match ended.
This result makes Betis move up to third in the standings with 30 points. While Barcelona did not move from seventh position with 23 points.
