FC Barcelona 3-4 Real Betis: 5 takeaways from the game

#1 Quique Setien beats Barcelona the Barcelona way

Quique Setien is one of the most underrated managers in La Liga. It is due to his hard work that Betis are playing European football this year. They managed to defeat Real Madrid last year in the league and did the same to Barcelona now.

Setien instructed his team to hold on to the ball which they did very well. Betis kept the possession even under immense pressure from Barcelona. Also, Betis' doors stayed firmly shut other than Lenglet's one attempt at goal in the first half. The only man who caused headaches to the defence was Messi but they dealt with the pass that he made, thus nullifying his effect.

When they broke into the counter, they outnumbered Barcelona. Each pass they made was towards a player that was in a huge amount of space. While Barcelona became obsessed with chasing the ball, Betis hit the spaces and broke off in the direction of the goal. Setien's midfield truly outclassed Barcelona in the first half. Carvalho, Lo Celso, Tello, everyone seemed to be on the same wavelength.

Setien didn't give defensive instructions even after a two-goal lead. When Barcelona came crawling back Betis sent them down again, with ferocious attacks and scoring more goals. Barcelona tried to come back a lot of times but 4 goals were just too much in the end.

The decision to substitute Joaquin for Canales was a good one. Canales scored the fourth goal to put the game out of reach for Barcelona. The formation change to 3-4-2-1, the decision to play Lo Celso in the hole, the decision to put three at the back, everything fell into place.

Barcelona found out the hard way that mistakes against Quique Setien's team are bound to be fatal.