BARCELONA: Barcelona extended their La Liga lead to eight points thanks to second-half goals by Jordi Alba, Gavi and Raphinha that gave them a 3-0 home win against Sevilla on Sunday.

Unbeaten in their last 15 matches in all competitions, Barca extended their La Liga winning streak to five games, piling pressure on rivals Real Madrid, who lost 1-0 to Mallorca earlier on Sunday.

Barca top the standings on 53 points, eight ahead of second-placed Real and 14 above third-placed Real Sociedad.

Barca have never lost a LaLiga title race when leading by eight points or more.

After losing captain Sergio Busquets to injury early in the match, the hosts were the better side for large parts of the game and controlled the tempo.

Yet they could not make their dominance count in front of goal, with Sevilla keeper Yassine Bounou making two brilliant saves to deny Robert Lewandowski in the first half.

Barca looked sharper after the break, however, and opened the scoring when substitute Franck Kessie showed great vision to put the ball on a plate for Alba ghosting in behind Sevillas defence, with the fullback slotting in from close range in the 58th minute.

Twelve minutes later, Raphinha sped down the right and delivered a perfect low cross to Gavi who tapped it in.

Raphinha got the third goal in the 79th minute with a point-blank strike from an Alba cross.

Sevilla, who have won only five of their 20 LaLiga games this season, are 16th on 21 points, two above the relegation zone.

Real’s hopes of retaining the La Liga title were dented in their defeat by Javier Aguirre’s Mallorca, in which Marco Asensio missed a penalty.

Nacho’s 13th-minute looping header into his own net separated the teams in a hard-fought clash, frequently slowed by various fouls from the hosts.

Real dominated the match but missed several chances including a golden opportunity to equalise in the 59th minute when Mallorca goalkeeper Pre­drag Rajkovic saved a poor penalty from Asensio.

Sociedad could not cut their six-point deficit on Real as they lost 1-0 at home against Real Valladolid.

Earlier Valencia, 17th, fell to a 1-0 defeat at Girona, who kept their first clean sheet of the season.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2023