Barcelona missed the chance to significantly extend their lead at the top of La Liga on Saturday, April 5th, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Betis at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. Veteran goalkeeper Adrian produced a string of saves to frustrate the hosts after Gavi’s early opener was cancelled out by Natan.
The draw means Hansi Flick’s Barcelona move to 67 points, extending their lead over rivals Real Madrid to four points, rather than the potential six, after Real suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Valencia earlier on Saturday. Real Betis climb to fifth place on 48 points.
Barcelona started brightly, seemingly motivated by Real Madrid’s earlier loss. Gavi finished off a fine team move in the seventh minute, scoring from close range after an assist from Ferran Torres. This came shortly after Adrian had made a good save to deny Pedri.
However, Betis equalized just 10 minutes later when defender Natan headed home from a Giovanni lo Celso corner, out-jumping Ronald Araújo.
From then on, despite dominating possession (over 75% in the second half), Barcelona found Adrian in inspired form. The 38-year-old goalkeeper made a stunning one-handed save to deny Lamine Yamal’s curling strike before halftime. After the break, following the introduction of Raphinha, Adrian produced excellent stops to deny Jules Koundé and Fermín López.
“If we won we would be higher up the table, but in the end it’s football,” Gavi told Movistar Plus. “We’re bitter about the result, because we couldn’t take advantage of the chances we had throughout the match, but we have to accept it and move on.”
The result extends Barcelona’s unbeaten run in all competitions to 19 games, but represents a missed opportunity to take a firmer grip on the La Liga title race with eight games remaining.
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