Barcelona took full advantage of their outstanding game against Real Betis to move eight points clear of Real Madrid after a 2-1 win on Wednesday evening.

The fixture is a rescheduled round 17 encounter as Barcelona, Real Betis, Real Madrid, and Valencia played the Supercopa De Espana in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in January, with Barcelona emerging champions after beating Betis in the semifinal and Real Madrid in the final.

Wednesday’s encounter had a stale first 45 minutes with no goal to show for it until Raphinha opened the scoring five minutes after the hour mark. Poland striker Robert Lewandowski secured the win with ten minutes to play, although an own goal by Jules Kounde set up a nervy ending for Xavi’s men.

However, there was no comeback for Real Betis, who continue to look for their first back-to-back win in La Liga since September.

Barcelona continues to move towards their first La Liga title in four years, but all is not set yet as Real Madrid could still cut the points gap to just five should they beat Valencia on Thursday.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti bemoaned the fixture schedule as the Los Blancos are due to feature in the FIFA Club World Cup that started on Wednesday with a 3-0 win for Egyptian side Al Ahly.

He also mentioned that his team is currently not at its best, but he’s confident that they will compete till the end of the season.

“We’re not at our best. I think we’ve failed at some things, and we can always do better. We’re playing at the same level as last year, but Barcelona is playing better. We’re confident that we’ll fight until the end. We’ve improved, and we’re reaching the level to compete in all the tournaments. The roster is coming along well. We ended January in a good way, and our time will come.” Ancelotti told newsmen in the prematch conference.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu