The Portuguese, in his first start, leads the Blaugrana: in addition to him, Lewa, Raphinha, Cancelo and Ferran Torres also scored from free kicks in the 5-0
– madrid
Joao Felix drags Barcelona to the top of La Liga. The Portuguese, whose salary is largely paid by Atletico Madrid, framed his first match as a starter with Barça with a remarkable performance. The Catalans beat Betis 5-0, Joao Felix opened the match and was instrumental in Lewandowski’s second goal. Then came goals from Ferran Torres, Raphinha and Cancelo. Barça sleeps first awaiting tomorrow’s Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad, Inter’s rival in the Champions League on Wednesday.
the deployment
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Xavi chose Joao Felix, Joao Cancelo and Ferran Torres among the starters for the first time, lining up his team with an unprecedented 4-1-4-1 in the defensive phase, with Cancelo who in the offensive phase flanked the pivot Oriol Romeu, leaving the wing to Kounde and Ferran Torres. The positions of Joao Felix and Gavi in the left sector of the Blaugrana offensive are interchangeable. Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis, 70 years old yesterday, carried very well, started well and had two good opportunities with Luiz Henrique and Ayoze, diagonally from the right just wide. At the first opportunity, however, Barcelona took the lead.
Catalan one-two
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In the 25th minute Cancelo recovered the ball in the attacking midfield, passing to Oriol Romeu who picked out Joao Felix in the area. Menino shot, rebounded, then recovered the ball and after a touch to evade the opposing goalkeeper he deposited the ball into the empty net with a diagonal. Half time 7 minutes and Joao Felix invented a brilliant fake on a cut by Christensen that freed Lewandowski, who scored his third goal in 5 La Liga games. Betis, inspired by the always excellent Isco, reacted but before the break Ter Stegen was miraculous on Willian Jose, and speaking of goalkeepers, Betis, already without Bravo, also lost Rui Silva so in the second half Fran Vieites went between the posts, 24 year old making his La Liga debut. Who netted three more goals.
historic goal
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The first is almost historic: a free kick from Ferran Torres with great effect and the ball went outside the wall, not placed very well. It was Barcelona’s first goal from a set piece since Leo Messi left more than two years ago. The Argentine had scored his last winning free kick for the Blaugrana in May 2021. Then Ferran Torres made way for Raphinha and the Brazilian sealed the 4-0 with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box following an assist from Lewandowski. In the 81st minute, Joao Cancelo scored with a right-footed diagonal shot to complete a magnificent collective move by Barcelona which also went through the feet of Lamine Yamal. The 16-year-old came on in the 64th minute for Joao Felix and again played brilliantly.
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