Barcelona secured a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League on Saturday when Jordi Alba’s 94th-minute goal against Real Betis secured the Catalan side’s place in the La Liga top four.
Alba’s impressive injury-time volley sealed a 2-1 victory for Barca at Benito Villamarin to ensure the team play in next season’s Champions League, an achievement that could be crucial to return hopes. financial recovery of the club.
When Xavi Hernandez took over as coach in November, Barcelona finished ninth in La Liga, with genuine concerns about their chances of closing the gap.
But, Xavi’s side have taken the lead and can now look forward to a rematch with rivals Real Madrid in Europe’s top division next season.
“A big win against Betis – a direct opponent of the Champions League”
– Xavi reacts to Barça’s dramatic win on Saturday night pic.twitter.com/ETJ8UsFbPf
– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 8, 2022
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“We saved the situation,” Xavi said. “This team believes that in the end, it has a competitive edge that we didn’t have in November.”
The difference between Champions League and Europa League football could be worth more than 50 million euros ($52.7 million) for Barcelona, who started the season with more than a billion euros in debt and forced to let Lionel Messi went free last summer.
While a title-free season can never be considered a success for Barca, finishing in the top four is an impressive achievement for Xavi and a huge relief for the club.
“We are Barca, so this is the minimum requirement, but in November we finished ninth,” added Xavi. “We had a very good second half of the season and now we look forward to next year, improving enough to win titles.”
The victory helped Barcelona to second in the rankings, 11 points ahead of Betis in 5th place. Both teams have three games left to play. Barca should now also confidently claim second place, with a five-point gap over Sevilla, who will play at Villarreal on Sunday.
– Fat score –
Betis looked like they took a point after Marc Bartra headed the equalizer in the 78th minute, three minutes after Ansu Fati came on off the bench to give Barcelona the lead. However, Alba opened fire in the back to win all 3 points for the away team.
Fati’s goal was his first in the league since November as the 19-year-old continued his latest recovery after another long hiatus on the sidelines.
The teenager returned briefly in January from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the best time of six months. That followed his nightmare 11 months after suffering a knee problem between November 2020 and September last year.
Xavi said: “Ansu has this magic, an eye for goals, he is a difference maker. “Where someone else needs three out of four chances, he can score with half a chance.”
Real Betis had to change goalkeepers in the 17th minute when the injured Claudio Bravo was replaced by Rui Silva, who soon sent Ronald Araujo’s header over the bar.
Barca also have to thank for keeping the score in the first half when Guido Rodriguez’s shot from the edge of the box narrowly missed the post.
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Betis ended the first half stronger but the game opened up in the second, with Barcelona looking more dangerous.
It was Fati, who came on from the bench, who made the breakthrough.
First, he tries to wriggle through a series of Betis defenders and when that fails, he tries a more straight line, the ball coming in from Alba and finishing finding its way past the players and into the corner.
However, Barcelona’s advantage lasted only three minutes when a simple free-kick, overtaking by Nabil Fekir was taken by the shoulder of Bartra, who wrapped up in a quick equalizer against his former club. his.
Fati took a chance on the other end before Alba finished in the 94th minute, drifting into the post and catching Dani Alves’ high ball, catching it sweetly, and sending it flying into the net.
