LaLiga leaders Barcelona needed to accept a 2-2 draw at mid-table Actual Betis after substitute Assane Diao scored a stoppage-time equaliser on Saturday to offer Manuel Pellegrini trigger to have fun in his five hundredth LaLiga sport as a supervisor.
Barca have 38 factors from 17 matches however second-placed Actual Madrid, who’ve 33 with two video games in hand, can slim the hole to 2 factors in the event that they win at Girona afterward Saturday.
“We weren’t capable of end issues off within the second half, to place the consequence past doubt. However we now look ahead to the subsequent sport, there is no time,” mentioned Barcelona’s Ferran Torres, who acquired their second after Robert Lewandowski had put them 1-0 up.
The guests created plenty of probabilities early on and Lamine Yamal, making simply his second begin after a four-week absence with an ankle harm, was largely within the thick of the motion.
The 17-year-old precipitated quite a few issues for Betis within the first half along with his silky footwork and ingenious passing.
Barca opened the scoring within the thirty ninth minute by a flowing transfer orchestrated by Yamal and neatly completed by Lewandowski for his sixteenth league aim of the season.
Betis confirmed extra intent after the break as Sergi Altimira and Abde Ezzalzouli despatched headers simply huge earlier than the hosts’ stress was rewarded with a penalty within the 68th minute.
Frenkie De Jong clattered into Barca loanee Vitor Roque and the spot kick was given after a VAR evaluation, with visiting coach Hansi Flick being despatched off for his vociferous protests.
Giovani Lo Celso stepped as much as convert and stage the match, however Barcelona regained the lead within the 82nd minute as Yamal’s brilliance as soon as once more shone by, along with his well-disguised by ball discovering its strategy to Torres who scored.
Nonetheless, there was one last twist in an exhilarating contest, and Pellegrini’s substitutions paid dividends as two of them mixed for the equaliser, with Aitor Ruibal’s harmful cross flicked into the online by Diao with a cheeky backheel.
“Nicely, I believe we deserved a minimum of a draw,” Diao mentioned. “We defended and attacked as a group. We went for the three factors. We could not get that, however we deserved a draw.”
Betis, who stay eleventh, will likely be glad to have snapped a two-game shedding streak however they haven’t gained a LaLiga match since October.
“When it comes to efficiency, we wanted it,” Pellegrini mentioned. “I believe the group has to regain confidence with at present’s efficiency, and hopefully construct as much as three factors.”