Setien's men knew that if they were to have any chance against the Catalan giants, they needed to take the game to them from the start and that is exactly what they did.
Ad
Trending
The game was in 4th gear from the get-go as Real Betis threatened to afford absolutely no comfort to Valverde's men. They pressed high up the pitch and gave the Barcelona defence no time for complacency.
In fact, Antonio Adan, Betis' goalkeeper was called into action only in the 24th minute. By that time, Betis had missed two chances. First, when Andres Guardado's long-range strike missed the mark by a whisker and then when Joaquin skied a sitter after he was gifted the ball after a poor clearance.
But once the goals started going in, Real Betis could do nothing but be run over by the over-awing trickery of Lionel Messi and some excellent henchmanship from Luis Suarez.
×
Feedback
Why did you not like this content?
Was this article helpful?
Thank You for feedback
About the author
Shambhu Ajith
Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.
For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.
Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.
'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Trending
