BARCELONA // A below-par Barcelona maintained pressure on Primera Liga leaders Atletico Madrid with a 3-1 victory over bottom club Real Betis at Camp Nou.
After a nervy Atletico beat Villarreal by a goal in Spain's earlier game, three points were vital for Barca to stay in title contention.
Gerardo Martino’s side had the advantage of boasting the league’s best home record against a team with the worst on their travels. Betis have recorded a solitary away success from 16 games and their fans appear to have accepted that relegation is inevitable. Betis usually take 2,000 away fans to games in Catalonia, mostly exiled Andalusians. Yesterday, that figure was 52.
Barca went ahead after 14 minutes when Alexis Sanchez won a penalty. The Chilean took on four players before being tripped by defender Jordi Figueres. Lionel Messi held his nerve for his 24th league goal of the season.
It was not a good night for Figueres; as he tried to stop a pass reaching Pedro in the 66th minute he put the ball into his own net, which doubled Barca’s lead.
Barely a game goes by without Messi being associated with a milestone; the encounter against Betis was his 200th competitive game at Camp Nou.
It had begun with a 40-metre by 40-metre banner unfurled in the sun to reveal the message in Catalan, “Don’t Touch The Masia” (Barca’s famed youth academy).
Barca fans sense a conspiracy from Fifa and unspecified darker forces after football's governing body placed a 14-month ban on them signing players because of alleged irregularities in the recruitment of young international players.
For the first time since January 2004, Barca started a game they needed to win without three legendary Masia graduates. Carles Puyol, Victor Valdes and Gerard Pique are all injured, with the first two to depart Camp Nou at the end of the season.
Barca have sufficient strength to conquer lesser teams without them, but their two-goal lead was cut to one when the evergreen Ruben Castro received the ball outside the penalty box. The 32-year-old striker showed intelligence in delaying his finish before shooting past three defenders in the 68th minute. With their lead reduced and Betis briefly ascendant, nerves enveloped Camp Nou.
A goalmouth scramble seven minutes from time saw Barca fans putting their heads in their hands before Sergio Busquets cleared the ball away.
Nerves eased a minute later when Neymar won a penalty after his pass appeared to be handled by Antonio Amaya. Neymar would have liked to take the spot kick but he knows his place in the Barcelona hierarchy.
Messi saw his second spot kick of the game saved by former Real Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Adan, before he netted the follow up.
Betis, nine points from safety with six games left, appear doomed. Barca stay within a point of Atletico, whom they play in the second leg of the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday. They also play Atleti in the final game of the season at Camp Nou. The league looks as though it will go down to the wire.
sports@thenational.ae
