‘Two Joaos’ Steal Show In Montjuic

The ‘Two Joaos’ stole the show on their starting debut for FC Barcelona Saturday night, with Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo both netting as the Catalans beat Real Betis 5-0 to go to the top of the La Liga table.

The visitors came close with two big chances around the quarter of the hour mark at Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s left post, but Luiz Henrique and Willian Jose could only hit their shots wide.

With that out of the way, Felix took over by slotting his own effort into a pretty much open net on 25 minutes after tussling in the box and finding space.

Then, seven minutes later, he cleverly dummied an Oriel Romeu pass which baffled the Betis back line and paved the way for Robert Lewandowski to make it two.

Felix almost doubled his account on the stroke of half time after a nice 1-2 with Ferran Torres, but compatriot Rui Silva managed to get a hand to it as the linesman’s flag went up.

Willian Jose blasted another attempt over the bar around the same stage of the game, and was then denied at close range by Ter Stegen who made an excellent stop.

The second half saw Felix set off a slick passing move concluded by Ferran Torres being unable to convert, and then score again approaching the hour only to be ruled offside.

Torres made up for his earlier blip with a free kick bent expertly around the wall to make it three.

Brought off to a standing ovation, the Spain forward was replaced by Raphinha as Felix also departed for Lamine Yamal and Romeu made way for Ilkay Gundogan.

Fresh off the back of impressive displays for Brazil against Bolivia and Peru over the international break, Raphinha wasted little time having his say with a bullet from the edge of the box that piled on the misery for Betis. 4-0.

Having a strong game at right back for the duration of the evening, Cancelo wasn’t to be outdone by his namesake and also made sure he got in on the scoring with less than 10 minutes to spare.

Embarking on an overlapping run past Robert Lewandowski, the loanee from Manchester City allowed Barca to lift the ‘manita’ (a little hand, i.e. five fingers) with a delightful finish after cutting inside.

With what was arguably Barca’s best display since the Spanish Super Cup final win over Real Madrid at the start of the year, Xavi’s men now go into their first Champions League group match against Royal Antwerp on Tuesday full of confidence.