Hansi Flick's mastery with Lamine Yamal: the hot takes from Betis-Barça

BarcelonaBarça overcomes Betis at the Cartuja in Seville (2-5) in a match that went wild at the start of the second half. No one until today had managed to scrape points at the home of the green-and-white team this season.

Flick's master hand with Lamine. Lamine Yamal's production is that of a world star, of a Ballon d'Or winner, in fact: in the last nine matches, the 10 has participated in 19 goals. Against Betis, a great goal to open the scoring and an assist to Gabriel Jesus when it seemed most likely that the match could get complicated. He also participated in the fourth: he served the ball, which a brave Cubarsí won before Eric scored. Lamine's offensive production is unstoppable, but Flick had the mastery to substitute him in time and calm him down with dialogue after he carried a dangerous yellow card throughout the commotion with Bernal.

More than justified complaints. The pitch at the Cartuja in Seville is not worthy of the football of two teams like Barça and Betis. The Porto coach, Francesco Farioli, a rival of the Andalusians in the Champions League, complained about the state of the pitch. The 'Blaugranes' experienced it firsthand, with the turf constantly lifting, also putting the players' health at risk. "We won't make excuses, but it is true that the pitch was not in a good state to play," said Rodri at the end of the match.

The legacy of Ramon Planes. The man from Lleida, former technical secretary of Barça and Betis, surely followed the match with pride. Two of the best footballers on the pitch have his stamp. If Pedri is at Barça, it is largely because Planes insisted on his signing when the Canary Islander was playing in the Second Division with Las Palmas and was just reaching the age of majority. Planes also signed Abde for Barça's reserve team, when the Moroccan international winger was playing in the Second Division B with Hércules. Now he is one of the best players for Betis.

And now... let Raphinha return. Barça counts all their matches this season as triumphs, with well-deserved victories. This one against Betis is one, a team that had accumulated eight consecutive victories at home, one of them against José Mourinho's Real Madrid. When the Andalusians put the 'Blaugranes' against the ropes, Rodri appeared to make it a balsamic 1-2 and the team recovered. One of the keys to the start of the season has been the emergence of Raphinha as a number nine. Without him they have also won, but the best news is getting him back before visiting PSG and hosting Madrid.