A crazy game at the Camp Nou saw Barcelona suffer their first home defeat in La Liga since September 2016, and Real Betis were full value for their 4-3 victory which could have been a lot more convincing.
The visitors raced into a 2-0 first half lead to leave Barca playing catch-up, and although Ernesto Valverde’s men never stopped trying they were clearly the inferior team on the day.
Let’s review the action from a bizarre contest.
Credit to Betis for scintillating show
Before criticising Barcelona’s performance, we should start by praising an outstanding Betis team who not only deserved the victory but did so by outplaying the hosts in every aspect of the game.
Betis were magnificent. They were organised, composed, controlled and followed a clearly laid-down game plan with rigour and belief, insisting upon playing the ball out from defence and weaving slick passing patterns with the ball whilst fearlessly pressing high up the pitch out of possession.
Quique Setien has long been touted as a potential future Barca manager and that speculation will inevitably and rightly become much more intense after this display, which saw his team do the unthinkable and out-football Barca on their own home turf.
Even in the dying stages when the home team were throwing everything forward in desperation, Betis still maintained their poise, purpose and attacking intent, generally looking defensively secure and always threatening in attack.
The bravery they showed by taking the game to Barca and continue attacking even with a lead to defend was admirable, and with many more performances likes this they will soon be in the race for a top four finish.
Betis players celebrate a goal.
Chaotic Barca lose their control
There were a lot of things wrong with this Barcelona performance, including major individual errors such as Marc-Andre ter Stegen allowing Gio Lo Celso’s shot to trickle through his fingers and Ivan Rakitic getting himself sent off with a wild lunge.
The most concerning element of their game, though, was their complete inability to exert a quality they usually take for granted: control.
At no stage in the game did Barca appear to be in command of the situation. Apart from perhaps the opening three minutes, when the visitors were penned back, Betis had Barca where they wanted them – and kept them there.
Sergio Busquets and Arthur were in the pockets of their man-markers Lo Celso and Andres Guardado, Luis Suarez was under the thumb of Marc Bartra and even Lionel Messi was reduced to looking for hopeful miracles rather than careful construction.
Barca possess such great individual quality that occasionally such miracles do occur, such as their remarkable third goal which really should be considered as a goal of the season contender after a dazzling interchange of passes gave Messi a close-range tap-in.
But in general play Barca were a mess, typified by Gerard Pique repeatedly charging forward like a schoolboy in the playground and getting himself caught way out of position when the ball was lost.
Barcelona lose control.
Defensive transitions undermine Barca
Pique was at the centre of the most specific weakness in Barca’s performance: their defensive transitions.
Whenever a spell of possession broke down and Betis mounted a swift attack, Barca looked vulnerable. This started from the very early stages, when visiting striker Loren Moron fired a decent chance over the bar following a rapid but precisely played attack.
Barca just couldn’t get enough men back quickly enough, and those that were there – Pique – were unable to do nearly enough to snuff out the danger.
Part of the problem, undoubtedly, is that none of the midfield trio of Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Arthur are athletic players, and they desperately struggle to quickly regain defensive positions if the ball is lost high up the pitch.
The ultra-attacking tendencies of the full-backs, especially Jordi Alba, also played a part, and it didn’t help that the front three of Messi, Suarez and Malcom seemed to be largely exempt from chasing back.
It all added up to a shapeless collective structure which offered huge holes for Betis to exploit, something they took full advantage of. And unless Barca’s ability transition between attack and defence improves, other teams will exploit it in a similar manner as the season wears on.
Comical defending.
