Lo Celso Volley Ruled Out as Barcelona Beat Real Betis 5-2
Barcelona emerged from a volatile night at La Cartuja with a 5-2 win over Real Betis, their ninth successive La Liga victory, but the turning point came in first-half stoppage territory when Giovani Lo Celso’s outstanding volley was ruled out after a lengthy handball review.
Hansi Flick’s side had made the brighter start and went ahead through Lamine Yamal, whose curling effort from around 20 yards found the net early on. Betis responded in the 27th minute, though, when Valentín Gómez met Pablo Fornals’ delivery with a header to level the contest.
Barcelona restored their advantage from a corner shortly afterwards. Álvaro Valles hesitated in dealing with the set piece and Rodri reacted to score his first goal for the club, putting the visitors 2-1 ahead before the most contentious episode of the evening.
Lo Celso appeared to bring Betis back level two minutes before half-time, hooking a spinning left-footed volley from outside the area into the top corner beyond Joan García. Barcelona’s players immediately protested that Cucho Hernández had handled the ball while controlling it during the build-up.
Footage from referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea’s body camera showed Pedri and Yamal approaching the official, with Pedri pointing to his arm as he argued that the ball had struck Cucho’s hand. De Burgos initially considered the movement non-punishable, while Pedri maintained that Cucho had deliberately used his hand to bring the ball under control.
The referee said he would review the incident and later explained that he regarded the player’s arm as being in a natural position. Fermín López, Karim Adeyemi and Rodri also joined the appeals, with Rodri calling the infringement obvious.
Former Barcelona defender Héctor Bellerín offered a more light-hearted intervention as the discussion continued, telling the official that Lo Celso’s finish deserved to count “for the sake of football”. The goal was nevertheless cancelled following the VAR check, leaving Barcelona ahead at the interval.
Gabriel Jesus extended the visitors’ lead after the restart, finishing Yamal’s cross to make it 3-1. Abde Ezzalzouli gave Betis brief hope by cutting the gap, but Facundo Bernal was dismissed soon afterwards for moving his head towards Yamal.
With Betis reduced to 10 men, Barcelona closed the game out decisively. Substitute Eric García added a fourth and Dani Olmo completed the scoring as Flick’s team secured a 5-2 result.
The victory equalled the strongest opening run to a La Liga season, matching the nine consecutive wins recorded by Real Madrid in 1968-69. Barcelona now enter a demanding stretch of fixtures, visiting Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday before turning to next weekend’s El Clásico against Madrid.
