Real Betis vs. Barcelona: Score and Reaction from 2017 La Liga Match
Barcelona spurned the chance to go top of La Liga on Sunday, as they were controversially held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Real Betis at Estadio Benito Villamarin.
Alexander Alegria pounced in the 75th minute to give Betis a deserved lead before a last-gasp Luis Suarez effort saw the spoils shared.
Barcelona should have drawn level far earlier, but Betis were given a big helping hand by the lack of goal-line technology in the Spanish top flight.
Aleix Vidal’s cross from the right struck Betis’ Cristiano Piccini inside the six-yard box and crossed the line before it was cleared away by Aissa Mandi, but the assistant referee failed to spot that it should have been a goal. Coral shared an image of the moment of controversy:
Even so, it's safe to say Barcelona wouldn’t have been good value for a victory, as they barely got going.
The likes of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Suarez struggled to carve open the Betis defence, and the hosts were proving a handful on the counter-attack.
Neymar did have one sight of goal after a flowing move from Luis Enrique’s men, but his effort was smartly saved by Antonio Adan to keep the sides level at the break.
In the second half, Betis set about punishing Barcelona for their sloppy play going forward and laid siege to Marc-Andre ter Stegen's goal.
They came perilously close to taking the lead on several occasions as the clock ticked toward 90 minutes, with Dani Ceballos coming particularly close from distance.
The midfielder picked up the ball from way out and unleashed a stunning drive toward goal, but it came back out off the woodwork. Journalist Alexandra Jonson said he deserved a goal for his performance:
It wasn’t long before Betis rattled the frame of the goal again, this time through the impressive Ruben Castro.
A stunning run from the tricky forward got him into the Barcelona penalty area, but his right-footed effort rebounded back off the upright.
Despite the warnings, Barca failed to respond and let their guard down once again from a corner, as Alegria stole in to give the hosts the lead.
A poor punch from Ter Stegen gifted Alegria the opportunity, and he took full advantage to send Estadio Benito Villamarin into raptures.
Then came the game’s hugely controversial moment, when Barcelona were denied a clear goal. The ball was around two feet over the line before Mandi’s clearance, and the incident will only increase calls for goal-line technology in Spain.
Barca had 15 minutes to respond and earn a point, but the Betis rearguard was standing firm and resisted everything that was being thrown at them.
It was going to take a moment of true magic or an error to allow the Blaugrana back into the match, and Barca's prayers were answered by Nahuel Leiva.
Having just come on as a substitute, Leiva gave the ball away to Messi in a dangerous area and paid the price. Messi coolly slipped Suarez in, and he rolled the ball home.
The goal was cruel on Betis, to say the least, and Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe expressed his sympathy for the strugglers:
The result left Barcelona one point back of rivals Real Madrid, who have two games in hand and can surge clear in the coming weeks.
Luis Enrique’s side face a stiff examination of their title credentials against Athletic Bilbao next time out between their Copa del Rey semi-final clashes with Atletico Madrid, when they’ll need much better performances than Sunday’s to progress.
Reaction
Following the draw, Enrique remained impartial about the decision that cost his side all three points but did say that referees need all the help they can get, via the official Barcelona website: "Referees need help, be it cameras or whatever, for decisions which favours us or not."
Despite the controversy, the Barca manager went on to say that his side possibly didn't deserve a point at Betis and labelled it a bad day at the office:
"The 1-1 result is positive for us as we pick up a point. They were the better side for 30 minutes in the second half, the first was more equal and we were able to salvage a point in the end. ... In the first half we didn’t have too many problems and they didn’t really create too much but then neither did we. In the second half they pressured us high up the field and created chances.
We found it difficult to bring the ball out from the back and they were the better side. We made a lot of mistakes and we were not at our normal level and that allowed our opponents to grow in confidence.
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