Barcelona thrash Real Betis

 

Barcelona thrash Real Betis 5-1 to reach Copa Del Ray quarter-finals

FC Barcelona continued their rediscovered form to storm into the quarter-finals of the Copa Del Rey. Youngster Lamine Yamal starred as Barcelona beat Real Betis 5-1 on Wednesday.

FC Barcelona continued their sensational January form on Wednesday, 15 January. After their Spanish Super Cup Final win against arch-rivals Real Madrid, Barcelona booked a place in the Copa Del Rey quarter-finals with a scintillating victory against Real Betis.

Teenage sensation Lamine Yamal played a starring role in the 5-1 win, scoring once and providing two assists. Barcelona cruised past their La Liga rivals in a terrific performance which would surely have lifted their confidence after a terrible patch in December 2024.

Barcelona are safely through to the quarter-finals of this season’s Copa del Rey thanks to a dominant 5-1 win over La Liga rivals Real Betis at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night. Barça were in complete control from the very beginning, played some amazing football and scored beautiful goals to cruise to the next round and continue their perfect start to 2025.

FIRST HALF

Hansi Flick decided to change things up tactically for his second clash with Betis and lined up his side on a classic 4-3-3 formation, with Dani Olmo in place of Robert Lewandowski playing as an old-school false nine. Olmo moved all over the pitch to link up with his teammates, and needed just three minutes to find Gavi inside the box for a gorgeous finish to put Barça in front early on.

The Blaugrana stayed sharp and fully dominated the game, with complete control of the possession and some beautiful passing variation to create spaces and chances. The Catalans could have easily wrapped up the victory and scored five or six, but only managed to find a second thanks to a great assist from Lamine Yamal and a powerful strike by Jules Kounde.

Betis were nowhere nearly as intense or dangerous compared to the first meeting and mostly stayed back trying to defend, but did create a monster chance just before halftime when a cross by Jesús Rodríguez found Vitor Roque all alone inside the six-yard box, but his tap-in was saved by Iñaki Peña thanks to a truly world-class point-blank stop.

Barça then scored a third just a few seconds later thans to a spectacular Kounde strike after another Yamal assist, but the goal was disallowed by VAR for a toenail offside on the Frenchman.

The halftime whistle came to end an opening period thoroughly dominated by Barça, but Betis were somehow still in the game and trying to keep their Cup hopes alive. The Blaugrana needed to maintain their level to ensure the victory, which set things up for an intriguing second half.

SECOND HALF

Betis started the final period with a much more aggressive approach, pressing higher up the pitch trying to force Barça into mistakes in their own half. But the Catalans remained calm and easily broke the press, and kept on dominating the ball and the action.

They found an early third goal thanks to a gorgeous assist by Frenkie de Jong and beautiful volley by Yamal, but VAR once again stepped in and ruled out the goal for offside. Just one minute later, however, Barça finally scored a legal third goal as Yamal had his shot blocked on a counter-attack and Raphinha fired the rebound into the net at the hour mark.

Barça kept the foot on the gas pedal looking to avoid any kind of late drama, and they wrapped up the victory with a fourth goal thanks to Olmo’s second assist of the night and a powerful finish by substitute Ferran Torres.

The final 15 minutes still had quite a bit of action as Barça scored a fifth as Yamal finally joined the scoresheet, finding the net after an assist from Fermín López. Betis earned a chance to score from the spot after Kounde fouled Rodríguez inside the box, and Vitor Roque scored against his parent club to give the visitors some consolation.

The final whistle eventually came to end a brilliant night for Barça, who are through to the next round of the Cup and more importantly keep up the momentum in what has been a fantastic start to the new year. Barça have won all four games so far in 2025 and scored 16 goals in the process, and they look every bit like the amazing team we saw in the first three months of the season.

The big La Liga and Champions League games are to come in the next couple of weeks, but Barça look more than ready for them.

Barcelona: Peña; Kounde, Araujo (Eric 64’), Cubarsí, Martín; Gavi (Fermín 72’), De Jong, Pedri (Víctor 72’); Yamal (Torre 77’), Olmo, Raphinha (Ferran 64’)

Goals: Gavi (3’), Kounde (27’), Raphinha (58’), Ferran (67’), (Yamal 75’)

Real Betis: Vieites; Ruibal (Sabaly 21’), Bartra (Llorente 46’), Natan, Perraud; Altimira (Flores 46’), Johnny; Rodríguez, Isco (Losada 64’), Juanmi (Fornals 64’); Roque

Goal: Roque (pen 84’)