Barcelona 4 - 0 Real Betis: 5 Talking Points

#2 Barcelona\'s penalty woes

Neymar got lucky as he spotkick came off the bar before being deflected into his own net by Westermann

Barcelona and penalty misses have become related topics over the course of the last year or so. While firstly it was just Lionel Messi who was the talk of the town, now it’s Neymar too who has become the victim of the curse. He has been sending the balls flying wide or hitting the woodwork.

Barcelona have failed to score most of the spot-kicks awarded to them over the course of the last few months. The situation is more dire than it seems as this could clearly be their undoing in the games with bigger stakes as history is so eager to remind us.

Tonight’s games was another stark reminder of the situation as Neymar hit the crossbar when he stepped up to take the spot-kick won by Messi. Luckily for Barcelona though, the ball ended up in the back of the net all thanks to a failed clearance attempt by Betis man, Heiko Westermann.