After defeating Real Madrid 5-2 away from home to win the Spanish Super Cup title, Flick not only achieved two consecutive victories in El Clásico but also successfully secured Barcelona's first championship; however, Barcelona did not have much time to celebrate. In the early hours of January 16th, Beijing time, Barcelona faced the strong Royal Betis in the round of 16 of the King's Cup. Yarmal contributed with a goal and an assist, Olmo provided two assists, Gavi, Rafinha both scored, and Barcelona advanced with a 5-1 victory.
In last month's La Liga match, Barcelona drew 2-2 away against Betis after conceding a late equalizer; for this game, Flick had Lewandowski and Casado on the bench ready to be called upon. The newly re-registered Olmo joined forces with Rafinha and Yarmal in the attack; De Jong returned to the starting lineup to form a midfield trio with Gavi and Pedri; Araujo, who recovered from injury, teamed up with Koundé, Kubasi, and Gerard Martin in the defense, with Peña standing in front of the goal.
The game started with a dream start for Barcelona as they took the lead just three minutes in; Pedri broke through and passed directly, Olmo received the ball, dribbled past defenders, and laid it off for Gavi to follow up with a powerful shot into the net, making it 1:0! After recovering from injury, Gavi has contributed 2 goals and 1 assist in the last 3 games. After taking the lead, Barcelona played more confidently. In the 9th minute, Olmo's shot inside the penalty area was heroically saved by Viettes; in the 13th minute, Yarmal lofted a pass, Rafinha headed it across, and Olmo's shot went high.
In the 20th minute, Gavi swept the ball to the front of the goal from the left, Olmo's shot hit the post and bounced out, and Rafinha's follow-up shot was blocked by Viettes; under Barcelona's offensive pressure, Betis' goal was in danger, and the conceded goals followed. In the 28th minute, Yarmal received Pedri's pass and lofted it forward, Koundé made a high-speed run and shot from a tight angle to extend the lead to 2:0! Yarmal has already provided 12 assists this season. It wasn't until the end of the first half that Betis had a chance to score, but Peña made a world-class save to keep the goal intact.
In the second half, Barcelona continued their attacking momentum. In the 57th minute, Casado's long pass was ruled offside after Yarmal's volleyed shot from the right; in the 59th minute, Yarmal intercepted the ball in the backfield, made a long run, and his long-range shot was blocked, but Rafinha followed up with a low-angle shot to make it 3:0! This season, Rafinha's goal tally has reached 20, the first time he has scored over 20 goals in his career! In the 67th minute, Barcelona's corner kick caused chaos in the Betis defense, Olmo alertly lofted a pass, and Ferran Torres shot to score again, making it 4:0!
Seeing that his teammates were all scoring, Yarmal was not to be outdone. In the 75th minute, Felmin sent a ground-level through ball from the center circle, Yarmal made an anti-offside run, met the goalkeeper one-on-one, and curled the ball into the net to make it 5:0! Yarmal has scored in three consecutive games; this season, he has delivered 9 goals and 12 assists, truly deserving of his 180 million euro valuation. Even though Betis managed to pull one back, Barcelona ultimately achieved a resounding 5-1 victory and advanced to the quarter-finals of the King's Cup.