Yamal scores a stunner and sets up another, Rodri and Eric García score from set pieces, and ten-man Betis lose 5–2 as Barça win their ninth league game in a row.
The numbers
| FC Barcelona | Real Betis | |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 69% | 31% |
| Shots | 18 | 6 |
| xG | 3.1 | 1.24 |
| Touches in opp. box | 31 | 11 |
| Passes | 750 | 324 |
Result the chances deserved: FC Barcelona 74% / 14% / Real Betis 12% (Poisson).
Starting line-ups
FC Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan García, Koundé, Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, Espart, Rodri, Pedri, Yamal, Fermín, Adeyemi, Gabriel Jesus.
Real Betis (4-2-3-1): Vallés, Bellerín, Llorente, Valentín Gómez, Fran García, Bernal, Ceballos, Lo Celso, Fornals, Ezzalzouli, Cucho Hernández.
Real Betis subs: Deossa (46', Ceballos), Riquelme & Parrott (64', Lo Celso & Cucho Hernández), Ángel Ortiz & Fidalgo (70', Bellerín & Fornals).
Red card: Bernal (54', violent conduct: a headbutt on Yamal seconds after Betis's second goal; he had been booked at 53'; LaLiga, FotMob, AFP). Yellow cards: Fermín (20'), Bellerín (22'), Yamal (55'), Llorente (second half); Pellegrini was booked on the bench before half-time. Before the break Lo Celso's long-range volley was ruled out after a VAR check for a handball by Cucho Hernández earlier in the move, and a Gabriel Jesus volley just before his goal was ruled out for offside (club report). Gerard Martín went off at half-time with a physical problem (Yahoo Sports, Goal), and Eric García went off with a physical problem late on, after Barça had used all five substitutions (LaLiga match page, club report, Goal). Goal minutes: LaLiga, FotMob, Sofascore and Yahoo Sports (the club report has 28', 53', 63' and 80' for four of them). Line-ups, xG, possession, shots and box touches: FotMob; passes: Sofascore. Raphinha returned from injury for the last 20 minutes; Christensen and Bardghji were out (FotMob).
Key moments, move by move
- Koundé brings the ball up the right and gives it to Yamal outside the box.
- Yamal turns sharply on the edge of the area to get away from Bernal and sets himself.
- He curls a left-footed shot into the top corner, out of Vallés's reach.
- Barça clear a Betis corner, but only as far as Fornals.
- Fornals crosses into the box.
- Valentín Gómez gets in front of Espart and heads in the equaliser.
- Barça win a corner and Fermín takes it.
- He swings it into the middle of the box.
- Rodri gets above his marker and heads it in: his first goal for Barça.
- Fermín plays Yamal in down the right.
- Yamal runs into the box towards the byline.
- He cuts it back low, and Gabriel Jesus finishes from close range.
- Betis win the ball and break straight away.
- Lo Celso plays Ezzalzouli in behind Barça's back line.
- Ezzalzouli races clear and finishes across Joan García.
- Yamal's free-kick hits the wall and loops towards the far post.
- Cubarsí gets there ahead of Vallés and knocks it back across goal.
- Eric García, on at half-time, finishes from close range.
- Cubarsí finds Olmo on the edge of the area.
- Olmo takes a touch to set himself.
- He drives a low right-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Control, two dead balls and Yamal: how Barça beat a Betis side that only threatened on the break
- The same shape, new names. Barça started in a 4-2-3-1 for the fourth game running: Gabriel Jesus up front, Fermín behind him, Yamal on the right and Adeyemi on the left, with Espart at left-back (FotMob). They had 69% of the ball and completed 692 of 750 passes (Sofascore). Rodri missed 3 of 129, Cubarsí 3 of 108.
- Betis's plan: little of the ball, quick when they won it. Pellegrini's 4-2-3-1 had 31% possession, 6 shots and 1.24 xG (FotMob). Their two goals came from a set piece and a counter-attack (Sofascore). Lo Celso's volley would have made it 2–2 before half-time, but VAR found a handball earlier in the move (club report).
- Dead balls tilted the first hour. Rodri's header from Fermín's corner put Barça back in front at 41', and Eric García's goal at 62' came from a Yamal free-kick that hit the wall (club report). Flick: "It is important to have that strength at set pieces" (Goal). Barça won 58% of aerial duels (Sofascore).
- Yamal, then ten men. He completed 6 of 8 dribbles, as many as Betis's whole team (FotMob). He scored after turning away from Bernal and set up Jesus with a cut-back. Bernal was sent off at 54' after a clash with Yamal, and Barça scored twice more. The animation reconstructs the right-side pattern; positions are approximate.
Tactical scenes
With under a third of the ball, Betis looked to go forward the moment they won it. Lo Celso turned and played forward first time, and Ezzalzouli ran into the space behind Barça's high right side. That route produced the 53rd-minute goal; Joan García also had to save from Bellerín in the first half (club report).
Evidence: Betis had 31% of the ball, 6 shots and 1.24 xG (FotMob). They made 14 interceptions to Barça's 6, and their two goals came from one set piece and one counter-attack (Sofascore). FotMob match page · Sofascore match report · FC Barcelona match report
Barça started almost every attack through Cubarsí and Rodri. Rodri mixed short passes with long diagonals and completed every long ball he tried. Cubarsí stepped forward with the ball and set up two second-half goals, Olmo's with a pass to the edge of the box.
Evidence: Rodri completed 126 of 129 passes and 10 of 10 long balls; Cubarsí 105 of 108 with two assists. Barça entered the final third 74 times to Betis's 35 (Sofascore). Sofascore match report · FotMob match page
Recreate it in FM26
FC Barcelona · FC Barcelona's control game with Yamal kept wide · 4-2-3-1Show cardHide card
FC Barcelona's control game with Yamal kept wide
| Pos | Player | In Possession | Out of Possession |
|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Joan García | Sweeper Keeper | Sweeper Keeper |
| RB | Koundé | Full-Back | Full-Back |
| RCB | Cubarsí | Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Centre-Back |
| LCB | Gerard Martín | Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Covering Centre-Back |
| LB | Espart | Wing-Back | Full-Back |
| RDM | Rodri | Deep-Lying Playmaker | Defensive Midfielder |
| LDM | Pedri | Box-to-Box Playmaker | Central Midfielder |
| RW | Yamal | Winger | Winger |
| AM | Fermín | Attacking Midfielder | Tracking Attacking Midfielder |
| LW | Adeyemi | Inside Forward | Winger |
| ST | Gabriel Jesus | Centre Forward | Centre Forward |
Team instructions
In Possession
- Passing DirectnessShorter
- Build-Up StrategyPlay Through Press
- DribblingEncouraged
Out of Possession
- Line of EngagementHigh Press
- Defensive LineHigher
- Defensive TransitionCounter-Press
The idea: Use a Deep-Lying Playmaker next to a Box-to-Box Playmaker, a Ball-Playing Centre-Back who steps in, and a Winger on the right who can beat his man. You need centre-backs quick enough to cover the space the full-backs leave.
What FM26 can't copy: FM26 can't reproduce a red card for a clash like Bernal's; it changed the last 36 minutes.
Our reading of this match in FM26 terms, not an exported tactic file. Role names as in FM26.
What if? Replay it with a different plan
Our best alternative plan: Gordon on at half-time (for Adeyemi). Keep the high press and the patient build-up, and bring Gordon on for Adeyemi at half-time. It would not change the result after the red card; it would make Barça sharper in the spell before it, when Betis were still in the game. It moves FC Barcelona's win chance from 74% to 76% (xG 3.10–1.24 becomes 3.25–1.24). Try your own changes to formation, pressing, approach and substitutions.
The game-changer FC Barcelona needed
Anthony Gordon
Adeyemi was criticised for weak finishing and for waiting for the ball instead of working for it (SB Nation). Gordon presses his full-back and runs in behind, and Bellerín got forward for Betis's best first-half chance.
Micky van de Ven
Betis scored at 53' by breaking into the space behind Barça's high back line. Van de Ven's recovery pace is built for covering that space when a side keeps its line this high.
What the analysts said
“When I took Lamine Yamal off, I told him I was proud of him, but with this scoreline, I had to make the substitution.”Hansi Flick after the match (Yahoo Sports)
“Lamine today, also, when you see the first goal he scored. Unbelievable.”Hansi Flick after the match (Yahoo Sports)
“It is important to have that strength at set pieces. I'm happy to have scored the second goal before the break.”Hansi Flick, press conference (Goal)
“We don't know what will happen with Eric, Kounde has small problems, Gerard too, we'll have to see.”Hansi Flick, press conference (Goal)
Betis found two ways through, and Barça still won by three.
What's happening. Barcelona won 5–2 at Betis, their ninth league win in nine. Only Real Madrid in 1968/69 had started a LaLiga season that way (FotMob). Yamal scored one and made one. Betis equalised from a set piece and pulled one back on the break, but Bernal's red card at 54' ended the contest.
How it works. Barça keep the ball, push the full-backs on and trust the centre-backs to cover. Against a side happy to defend, that brings territory and set pieces: two of the five goals came from a corner and a free-kick. The cost is the same as in Istanbul. When Betis won the ball and ran, there was space behind the full-backs.
What the shots say. Barça's expected goals were about two and a half times Betis's, and Betis had six shots in all. One reading: this was control with two lapses. The other: Betis turned little more than one expected goal into two, and Barça have now conceded on the break in consecutive away games. PSG will offer more of those breaks than Betis did.