FC Barcelona 5-1 Betis: High five... again!

Hansi Flick had insisted before today’s Copa del Rey last sixteen game with Betis that delighted as he was with the showing against Real Madrid, he wanted his team to produce that magic with greater consistency.

And that’s exactly what he got. It was champagne football all the way, thoroughly entertaining to watch, with Real Betis often hopelessly outclassed by a veritable exhibition of blaugrana flair.

FC Barcelona charged into the cup quarter finals in simply wondrous fashion, with Gavi, Jules Kounde, Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal getting the five goals that could have been more had it not been some tough offside calls.

It was all so, so different to the below-par performances of the tail-end of 2024. Sunday night in Jeddah was no one-off. The unstoppable Barça machine of the start of the season is back!

Perfect start

Any fears that a Super Cup hangover might affect Barça’s performance in a cup game just three days after were quickly dissipated when Gavi took less than three minutes to convert a Dani Olmo assist and score against the club where it all started for him. 

Olmo has been in the news for other reasons of late, and today he got to show why his presence in the team was so worth fighting for. Following that assist, he was everywhere, forcing a miracle save from visiting keeper Fran Vieites, hitting the post and brilliantly directing the attacking orchestra.

Total control

The Olmo show then gave way to the Lamine Yamal show. The youngster was delighting the fans every time the ball landed at his feet… a jaw-dropping pass between a defender’s legs, and then the most extraordinary chip that Kounde met on the half-volley and drove into the net to make it 2-0.

On the stroke of half-time, the duo repeated the trick from almost exactly the same two spots. This time, however, the narrowest of offside calls denied the Frenchman the chance of a second.

Lamine machine

No sooner were the teams back on the field than Lamine was sublimely converting a Frenkie de Jong ball to score what did seem to be the third goal of the night. Annoyingly, the VAR officials somehow managed to find an offside in the build-up to that one too.

Lamine wasn’t happy. And understandably so. Enraged, in the very next play he took matters into his own hands, charging coast to coast through green-and-white shirts and then unselfishly laying up Raphinha for the finish.

Gimme five!

The blaugrana domination was absolute. With practically his first kick after coming on as a substitute, Ferran Torres fired in an Olmo assist.

Even without the two disallowed goals, Barça were four goals to the good and it was soon five thanks to a pleasant reversal in Lamine’s fortunes. This time the flag went up on his goal, but the news from the VAR room was that his position had been fine.

Other than one stunning save in the first half, Iñaki Peña had barely had anything to do all night, but he would be picking the ball out of his own net when Vitor Roque got to score a penalty against his old club. It hardly mattered by that stage. The referee didn’t even bother playing second half injury time. This was more than all over and Barça had cup quarter finalists written all over their faces.

On Monday at 1pm CET, we’ll be finding out who they get to play in the quarter finals. Before then, it’s back to La Liga and Getafe away on Saturday at 9pm CET. 

Un cop superada aquesta eliminatòria de Copa, els blaugranes afronten una nou desplaçament de Lliga per donar inici a la segona volta. Els de Hansi Flick s’enfrontaran amb el Getafe al Coliseum en la 20a jornada, el dissabte 18 de gener a les 21 hores.