BARCELONA: Ferran Torres scored a first-half hat-trick as Hansi Flick’s Barce­lona won 5-3 at Real Betis in LaLiga on Saturday, bouncing back after conceding an early goal to provisionally extend their lead over Real Madrid at the summit to four points.

Lamine Yamal and Roony Bardghji scored the other goals as the champions racked up what was mostly a comfortable victory in Seville, until they conceded two late goals.

Third-placed Villarreal kept the pressure on La Liga’s top two with a 2-0 win over 10-man Getafe but Atletico Madrid, fourth, fell to a second defeat this week with a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao.

Barca top the standings on 40 points after 16 games, with Real four points behind them with a game in hand. Villarreal are a point behind Real with Atletico on 31 points, seven points ahead of Betis in fifth. Bilbao are seventh, a point behind Betis.

After some shaky performances Barca beat Diego Simeone’s Atletico in midweek and then built on it with another triumph at Betis.

“We are fighting and (my players) were exhausted, so at the end not everyone was 100 percent, and this is normal,” Flick told reporters. “Today is positive. Really positive and compliments for my players.”

Flick opted to make some rotations, with a key Champions League clash against Eintracht Frank­furt on Tuesday in mind.

The German coach started Bardghji on the right wing and Torres up front in place of Robert Lewan­dowski, as well as moving teenage star Yamal into a central attacking midfield role, where he impressed.

Former Manchester United forward Antony opened the scoring for Betis, fifth, at their temporary La Cartuja home, blasting home after Jules Kounde played him onside.

The French defender made amends to help Barca get back level five minutes later, with Torres polishing off his cross at the end of a sharp team move.

Torres struck again in the 13th minute in similar fashion from Bardghji’s cross to put Barca in front, and they never looked back.

Bardghji scored the third himself after good work by Pedri to bring the ball forward, the Swedish winger finishing with aplomb.

Torres completed his hat-trick before half-time with a stroke of luck, as his shot deflected home past Alvaro Valles.

A Yamal penalty increased Barca’s lead just before the hour mark, but Betis never gave up, Diego Llorente steering the ball into the net from a flicked-on corner in the 85th minute.

Kounde was in the thick of things again late on, fouling Abdessamad Ezzalzouli in the box to concede a penalty that was scored by Cucho Hernandez in the 90th minute, but it proved too little, too late for Betis.

Alex Berenguer’s superb strike from outside the area in the 85th minute earned Athletic their late win over Atletico, who are now nine points behind Barcelona.

Atletico had been on a run of 13 matches unbeaten before Barca defeated them in midweek, with the Basques following it up at their buzzing San Mames stadium.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2025