Barca suffer first defeat under Xavi as Betis snatch victory
Barcelona suffered their first defeat under Xavi Hernandez on Saturday as a 1-0 loss at home to Real Betis inflicted another blow on their hopes of catching La Liga's top four.
A surprise defeat at Camp Nou damages Barca's bid to qualify for next season's Champions League, four days before they attempt to avoid crashing out in the group stage of the current one. Barca have to win at Bayern Munich on Wednesday to be sure of going through.
This was hardly ideal preparation as a brilliant Betis counter-attack, finished by Juanmi in the 79th minute, consigned Barca to their fourth league defeat of the season and leaves them a daunting seven points behind the Champions League qualification places. Betis moved into third to continue their excellent start to the campaign. Barcelona stay seventh and will be 16 points behind leaders Real Madrid, if Madrid win at Real Sociedad later on Saturday.
Xavi had started with two wins out of two in La Liga but even he admitted the results owed a lot to good fortune, with Espanyol and then Villarreal guilty of squandering several chances. In between, a goalless draw at home to Benfica in the Champions League exposed Barcelona's ongoing problems in front of goal and that was evident against Betis, who were relatively untroubled throughout.
Ousmane Dembele, who come on off the bench, posed the greatest threat while the 19-year-old Abde Ezzalzouli missed a golden opportunity to equalise late on, when the ball was cut back to him eight yards out. The youngster blazed over.
Minutes before, Betis showed far more composure to finish off a slick counter-attack. Sergio Canales broke free down the right but the move appeared to have lost its momentum when Canales pulled back to Guido Rodriguez on the edge of the area. Instead, he shifted the ball quickly left to the arriving Juanmi, who took one touch before sliding into the corner.
Elsewhere, Atletico suffered a shock 2-1 defeat by Mallorca. It was unexpected, given struggling Mallorca had not won a game since the start of October. Atletico are fourth, now seven points behind Real Madrid, who they face next weekend at the Santiago Bernabeu.
They were undone in the 91st minute by a Real Madrid player as Takefusa Kubo, on loan at Mallorca, raced clear and coolly found the corner. Franco Russo headed in Mallorca's equaliser in the 80th minute after Matheus Cunha had prodded Atletico into the lead in the 68th.