Helluva game, kids, helluva game. In the end it was probably a fair result, given that goalline related refereeing snafu, but Betis dominated for much of the game, and almost all of the second-half. Lovely way to start a football Sunday though - cheers for reading.
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Full-time: Real Betis 1-1 Barcelona
Peeeeeeep.
90 mins + 3: Suarez tries to bring the ball down at the far post, but is penalised for either a push or a handball. Take your pick.
90 mins: Cruel, but Betis shoot themselves in the foot. Substitute Nahuel dispossesses Neymar on the edge of the box, but instead of clearing or passing the ball forwards, he tries an extremely ill-advised Cruyff turn, and turns straight into Messi. He slips it through to Suarez, who tucks it neatly inside the post. On the balance of play that’s harsh for Betis, but perhaps justice served after the ball that went over the line earlier.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-1 Barcelona (Luis Suarez 90)
Well that’s cruel.
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87 mins: Messi shoots from the edge of the area, but it’s blocked with a death or glory lunge by Mandi. Neymar then lines one up from about 25 yards, but despite a little swerve and dip, there’s not enough of either to elude Adan.
86 mins: Piccini tries to float a cross into the middle, but floats it too far.
85 mins: Double sub for Betis - off go Alegria and Petros, on come Nahuel and Rafa Navarro.
84 mins: Here’s the ‘clearance’ from earlier. Yeah. That’s over.
Wow pic.twitter.com/ytNUqbpgqA
— Tomasz Mortimer (@TMortimerFtbl) January 29, 2017
83 mins: Messi chips the ball over the defence looking for Luis Suarez, but Adan comes out and claims it before the forward can get there.
81 mins: Ruben Castro! The forward has a golden, platinum, diamond chance to seal the game, finding himself in 20 yards of space behind the Barca defence as their offside trap fails, but he dithers and hits the shot straight into Ter Stegen’s chest. Remarkable stuff.
80 mins: Messi lines up a free-kick, but hits it into the wall. Terrific game this, you just hope that Betis don’t go completely into their shell and just invite Barca’s attacks.
78 mins: Barca finally seem to have woken up, after that goal, and Betis clear the ball off the line twice in two minutes - Mandi is the man both times, firstly from an Alba effort, then after a Vidal cross is deflected towards goal by Tosca. However, replays confirm that the first one was a good foot behind the line, but no goalline technology means no goal.
75 mins: Betis massively deserve the lead. A few seconds earlier Durmisi cut in from the left and hit the post, shooting through the legs of Pique, but then Betis win a corner. It’s put into the middle, not cleared properly and it drops to Alegria, who pokes the ball into the net at the back post.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-0 Barcelona (Alegria 75)
Finally!
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73 mins: Another free-kick for Betis, this time on the right, but again it’s swung right into the arms of Ter Stegen. Barca have barely managed to get out of their own half in this second-half.
71 mins: What an effort! Ceballos shift some space for himself just outside the area, shoots and it swerves, dips but crashes into the bar and goes over. Betis have done everything but score here...
70 mins: Yellow card for Rakitic, for chopping Petros to the floor with an errant sliding challenge.
69 mins: And Betis make their own switch - the splendidly named Ryan Donk replaces Pardo.
68 mins: Double change for Barca - Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba come on for Digne and Arda.
67 mins: Petros shoves Pique in the chest, the Barca man creaks to the floor, as if he received a roundhouse kick to the face, and Petros is booked.
64 mins: Dumisi crosses low from the left, Ter Stegen dives on it but is in the wars again, as a stretching Alegria accidentally knees him in the head.
63 mins: Rakitic gives away a free-kick after losing control, and Dumisi swings it over from the right. That one floats straight through to Ter Stegen - who received some treatment a few moments ago - who catches without problems.
60 mins: Betis have caused Barca problems from their own goal-kicks all game, and it nearly costs them dear. Ter Stegen dithers when he should have put his foot through the ball, Ruben Castro dispossesses him and Dumisi tries a shot from way out on the left, but it goes wide.
59 mins: Change for Barca - Denis Suarez is off, and Andre Gomes replaces him.
58 mins: Betis pressing Barca hard here. They try a short corner but Pardo’s cross was desperately bad.
55 mins: Alegria has a chance to shoot on the edge of the box with Castro in space over on the left, but he doesn’t quite have the right direction on it and it’s fairly easily saved by Adan.
52 mins: Nice work by Barca as Neymar cuts it back to Messi just outside the area, he immediately clips a superb ball to Vidal at the back post but his volley is dragged across goal and wide. Perhaps should’ve done better there.
50 mins: Vidal chops Alegria down on the right side of the area and Betis have a good chance to threaten again. Pardo lines up the free-kick, shoots with some power but Ter Stegen punches clear.
48 mins: Corner for Barca on the left, but it’s headed clear. The ball then reaches Denis Suarez, but his attempted pass down the line is too strong for Luis, and it goes out.
46 mins: Betis on the attack straight away after the break, but having reached the edge of the Barca area they go sideways, back and forth. Pique eventually clears.
6 - In six out of their last nine La Liga games Barcelona have drawn nil-nil at half-time. Halfway.
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 29, 2017
We’re back out for the second 45. No changes, Digne seems OK after his earlier knee bother.
Been a smashing game this, so far. Betis should probably be ahead, but on a couple of occasions Adan has been called upon to deny Barca with some spiffing saves. Castro has been at the sharp end for much of the time, but their two wing-backs, Dumisi and Piccini, have been their biggest threats.
Half-time: Real Betis 0-0 Barcelona
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins + 1: Messi tries another defence-splitter looking for Neymar, but the Brazilian was held back slightly. Nothing given though, and that should be that for the half.
44 mins: Ceballos shifts the free-kick to Castro, but he’s leaning back and puts the shot into the building site behind the goal.
43 mins: Good game this. Castro takes the ball down then nicks the ball past Pique, but the centre-half cynically takes him down just outside the area. A free-kick, and a yellow card for Mr Shakira.
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41 mins: Again Suarez is almost - almost - set free by a superb Messi pass, but Mandi, oh Mandi, slides in to deny him.
40 mins: Barca getting into things now. Neymar is set free on the left and crosses for Suarez at the back post, who shoots first time but Adan again charges out and makes a good save. The offside flag was up, but none of the three players involved knew that.
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39 mins: The home crowd are outraged when a clearance hits the referee and almost sets Arda free, but luckily for the man with the whistle the attack comes to nothing.
37 mins: And now Adan has to make his first real save. Messi splits the Betis defence with a quite brilliant threaded pass, finding Neymar in the box who opens up his body, but Adan charges out and makes the save.
36 mins: Adan plays dangerously and almost has his pants pulled down by Neymar, closing in at some pace, but he just about gets away with it by booting the ball out for a throw.
35 mins: The ball goes out for a throw on the Barca left and Victor Sanchez prevents Luis Suarez from getting the ball to take a quick one. Lovely stuff.
33 mins: Lovely work by Piccini down the right, who streaks past Digne and chips a cross to the back post. It falls to Dumisi, who shoots across goal, but it heads off target and Castro can’t control it. Mathieu has to put it out for a corner. Betis getting plenty of joy down either flank from their wing-backs.
29 mins: There’s Castro again, fed by Dumisi on the edge of the box. He shoots, Ter Stegen gives it the full flung dive to his left but before it gets there Pique heads behind for a corner.
27 mins: Another effort from Castro - but this one was from a tricky angle on the left side of the area, and it ripples only the side-netting.
26 mins: Barca look to relieve the pressure - they have a free-kick on the left side of the area after Luis Suarez is chopped. Neymar shoots - his first real involvement having been hitherto anonymous - but gets under the ball and it floats high and wide.
24 mins: Betis on top now. Castro breaks into the area but dithers, then seems to stumble before he shoots, and his effort is blocked.
23 mins: Dumisi is the latest Betis player to have a pop at goal, but that’s a poor effort and it drifts over the bar.
21 mins: Betis are pressing Barca superbly. The only question at this point is how long they can keep this up. Rakitic gives the ball away in midfield, then Pardo plays a superb raking pass out to Piccini on the right. He cuts inside Digne, but seems to kick the floor when taking a shot and it dribbles towards Ter Stegen.
19 mins: Woof! Brilliant effort from about 25 yards out by Ceballos, who strikes with some power towards the top corner but Ter Stegen flings himself to his right and paws the ball away fantastically. Good work all round.
18 mins: Digne is back on, but doesn’t look massively comfortable. Jordi Alba primed in case the Frenchman can’t carry on.
17 mins: Bit of a problem for Lucas Digne, who stretches to block a cross then goes to ground with what looks like a tweaked knee. He has treatment then limps to the sidelines, and it looks like he might have to come off.
14 mins: A short spell where neither side can really carve out any sort of proper opportunity. Luis Suarez tries to manufacture something by attempting a shot from the halfway line, but Adan is nowhere near far enough off his line, so much so that he controls the ball on his chest rather than catching the thing. Excellent disdain for the effort there.
11 mins: Cebellos throws himself to the ground in the area like a toddler having a tantrum in Tesco, but the ref simply gives a goal kick. From that goal kick, Barca are pressed into giving the ball away, the ball falls to Castro in the area but he miskicks his shot, and Ter Stegen saves fairly easily.
10 mins: First attack of real note from Betis, as Cebellos crosses low looking for Ruben Castro, but it’s cleared by Pique at the near-post.
8 mins: Messi goes down under a challenge from Tosca. I’m trying to think of some sort of opera joke but it’s too early. If anyone fancies having a try, feel free to help out.
6 mins: Big chance for Luis Suarez, as Aleix Vidal crosses from the right to find the forward at the back post, but his measured left-footed half-volley is blocked behind for a corner.
4 mins: Mathieu causes Sunday league coaches across the world to soil themselves by playing a pass across his own box. He just about gets away with it and Barca attack, culminating in a penalty claim as Denis Suarez tumbles in the box: nothing doing, but a few seconds later a very similar foul is given outside the box. Funny old game, Saint.
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2 min: One end of the stadium is currently under construction, which is always a rather curious sight, particularly when they put up a banner of some description over it. This one just has miscellaneous inspiring images of Betis players, the crowd etc.
1 min: We’re away. Barca get us started. Betis pressing them hard from the off.
Luis Enrique clobberwatch: he’s got a military green parka on, with jeans and those black pumps with bright white soles that footballers/ managers seem to love.
We have teams on the pitch. It’s noon and sunny in Seville, it’s 11am and cloudy in London, and we have football.
Similarly, nowt to do with Betis or Barca, but here’s Danny Taylor’s Observer column on a dilemma facing Nigel Clough.
When Brian Clough landed his coat on the peg for the first time, in January 1975, one previous manager, Dave Mackay, had warned him Forest were a lost cause and one committee member, Brian Appleby, described them as “the least progressive club in the country”. Now, 42 years on, it is effectively a one-man committee and the person in question has just appeared in one newspaper cartoon wearing a jester’s costume, sitting on a gold throne and carrying a bag marked ‘Promises’. Forest, as Clough put it all those years ago, are “in the shit”.
This has got nothing to do with Betis, Barcelona, Spanish football, football today, how your Sunday morning is going, world events or anything of much topical note...but dear god, look at these two magnificent specimens.
Gabriel Batistuta, Fiorentina & Juan Sebastián Verón, Parma, 1998/99 pic.twitter.com/IddrFRnRt0
— Classic Calcio (@ClassicCalcio) January 29, 2017
Interesting times at Barcelona. They’re third in the league, have looked very unconvincing in spells but are on a run of five successive wins in all competitions, having shimmied their way into the Copa del Rey semi-final with that hoying of Real Sociedad last time out. A win here will, if perhaps only for a few hours, take them back to the top of the league, with Sevilla facing Espanyol and Real hosting Sociedad later.
“It doesn’t make any sense to focus on other teams if you don’t win your own games,” Luis Enrique said this week. “We play first [this weekend], so we will focus on our game and try to play well. That’s enough to worry about without focusing on other games.
“We’re still only halfway through league, though, so I wouldn’t say our upcoming games are especially decisive. Everyone will drop points, so let’s see how many each team drop and how competitive we can be.”
Still, Betis coach Victor Sanchez doesn’t sound cowed by the prospect of a Barca chugging into gear. “The fans are not afraid and neither are we,” he said. “It is a challenge to face a team with such great potential, and we are going to go after all three points.”
So now you know. Kick-off is 11.00am GMT. Stick around.
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Team news
Real Betis
Adan; Piccini, Pezzella, Mandi, Toscas, Durmisi; Petros, Ruben Pardo, Cebellos; Alegria, Castro. Subs: Gimenez, Bruno, Alex Martinez, Donk, Navarro, Nahuel, Zozuila
Barcelona
Ter Stegen, Aleix Vidal, Piqué, Mathieu, Digne 24; Rakitic, Denis, Arda; Suárez, Messi, Neymar. Subs: Cillessen, Mascherano, Alcácer, Jordi Alba, S.Roberto, André Gomes, Umtiti.
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Nick will be here soon. In the meantime have a read of Sid Lowe’s latest La Liga column.
