Barcelona’s 5-2 win at Betis made it nine from nine, and beating Real Madrid on 25 October would give them La Liga’s best ever start

Nine La Liga games, nine wins. Barcelona’s 5-2 win over Real Betis at La Cartuja on Saturday equalled the league’s best ever start, set by Real Madrid in 1968-69, and Hansi Flick’s side can take the record outright on 25 October. The opponents at Camp Nou will be Real Madrid.

Barcelona have 27 points, five more than Atlético Madrid in second, and they have scored 39 league goals while conceding nine. Real Madrid’s 1968-69 side won its nine with 21 goals. Barcelona’s own previous best was Gerardo Martino’s team in 2013-14, which won eight before a 0-0 draw at Osasuna.

Yamal starts it, Betis keep coming

Betis began the night third and made Barcelona work for it until they lost a player. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring after ten minutes, turning on the edge of the box and curling a shot into the top corner. Betis were level in the 27th minute when Barcelona failed to clear a corner and Valentín Gómez headed in Pablo Fornals’ cross.

Rodri restored the lead from a Fermín López corner in the 41st minute, with Álvaro Valles hesitating in the Betis goal. Two minutes later Giovani Lo Celso thought he had equalised with a volley from outside the box, but it was ruled out for a handball earlier in the move.

The ten minutes after half-time decided it. Gabriel Jesus had one goal disallowed for a tight offside, then scored from Yamal’s pass in the 51st minute. Abde Ezzalzouli beat the offside trap almost straight away to make it 3-2. Within a minute Betis were down to ten.

Bernal’s red and Pellegrini’s anger

Facundo Bernal was sent off in the 54th minute after a confrontation with Yamal. ESPN described him moving his head towards the 19-year-old, who went to ground, and Yamal was booked for his part in the scuffle.

With an extra man Barcelona ran away with it. Eric García tapped in the fourth in the 62nd minute after Pau Cubarsí beat Valles to a cross, and Dani Olmo added the fifth nine minutes from time. Barcelona finished with 69% of the ball and 18 shots to Betis’s six.

Manuel Pellegrini did not hide how he saw it. According to ESPN, the Betis coach blamed “incomprehensible and inexplicable decisions” for the result. Betis stay on 19 points after their second league defeat of the season.

PSG, then the Clásico

Barcelona have one more game before Real Madrid come to Camp Nou, away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday. Win that, and the record is theirs alone, taken from the only other club to have managed nine.

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