LaLiga
Raphinha brace sends Lewi out of Barcelona a winner
Raphinha scored twice and Joao Cancelo was also on target as LaLiga champion Barcelona defeated Real Betis 3-1 in Robert Lewandowski's final home game for the club.… Show More
Raphinha scored twice and Joao Cancelo was also on target as LaLiga champion Barcelona defeated Real Betis 3-1 in Robert Lewandowski's final home game for the club.
Barca's victory made it the first team in LaLiga history to finish a 38-game campaign with a 100 percent home record, posting its 19th win in as many matches this season.
It also provided Lewandowski with a winning send-off on his final Camp Nou appearance for the club, with the Poland striker playing 85 minutes as captain after announcing he will depart at the end of the season.
Barca put on a superb show in the first half, but had to wait until the 28th minute to make the breakthrough as Alvaro Valles twice denied Raphinha, while Fermin Lopez also fired into the side netting from a great position.
But there was nothing Valles could do to thwart Raphinha when, having been fouled by former Barca left-back Junior Firpo, he curled a sumptuous free-kick around the Betis wall and into the left side of the goal.
More Valles heroics denied Lopez near the end of the first half, while Sofyan Amrabat misfired when Betis finally created a clear-cut opening in stoppage time.
The visitor then shot itself in the foot just after the hour mark as Hector Bellarin's dire pass teed up Raphinha's drive into the bottom-right corner, though Isco won and converted a 69th-minute penalty, having been upended from behind by Gavi.
Antony was agonisingly close to equalising with a curler from the edge of the box, but Barca swiftly restored their two-goal cushion when Cancelo bent a delightful effort into the bottom-right corner in the 74th minute.
Lewandowski lashed high and wide with his final touch in a home game for Barca and was in tears when he was subsequently substituted to a standing ovation, and he repeatedly waved to the home fans in the closing stages of a comfortable win.
Last time out at Camp Nou, in its title-clinching win over Clasico rival Real Madrid, Barca also opened the scoring through a free-kick, with Marcus Rashford netting on that occasion.
After Raphinha's strike on Monday, Barca has scored a direct free-kick goal in back-to-back home LaLiga games within the same season for the first time 2003-2004.
It is the first team to complete a LaLiga season with a perfect record at home since Madrid did so in 1985-86, albeit Los Blancos only had 17 matches on their own turf.
