The start of a new month hasn't seen much improvement for Barcelona who coughed up a lead during second-half stoppage and had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Real Betis.
Betis were the better team throughout large portions of the match and arguably should have been up at least a goal had they put away some of their chances in the opening minutes. But Iñaki Peña came up big for the Catalan side, keeping his goal secure.
While Barcelona managed to wrestle some of the possession away, they struggled creating anything going forward.
But after a large spell of possession late in the first-half, Pedri linked up with Jules Kounde who sent in a cross that Robert Lewandowski simply needed to tap in to give Barcelona the lead.
Despite being down, Real Betis didn't flinch and once again exerted that pressure they showed in the first half to the start of the second half. Barcelona came out asleep after the break though they didn't pay for it.
It seemed like Barcelona had managed to quell some of that unease to begin the half. But that illusion came crashing down when Frenkie de Jong clipped Vitor Roque who was through on goal. After a lengthy VAR review, Betis was awarded the penalty, the Dutchman was shown a yellow card and Hansi Flick was sent off.
Giovani Lo Celso stepped and despite Peña guessing correctly, Lo Celso tucked his penalty away, equalizing for the home side.
One of the criticisms of Xavi's Barcelona was their inability to close games out. Against Betis, Barcelona couldn't create anything to bring that argument up. With Lewandowski and Raphinha subbed out, the onus to create something fell to Lamine Yamal.
The 17-year-old tried to carry the team on his back and almost succeeded on a solo run but Ferran Torres, who was in an offside position, took the ball from Yamal to nullify that threat.
However, Yamal finally broke through in the 82nd minute after he sent a ball through to Torres who scored. Initially called off for offside, the goal was given after a review. Barcelona had the lead against the run of play.
But as has been the case the past handful of games, Barcelona's inability to control the game late came back to cost them. After Gavi lost the ball, a cross was sent in that Assane Diao cheekily converted, leaving the Barcelona defense like statues as the ball went in the back of the net.
Conceding in the 94th minute left Barcelona with little time to react and it proved to be the case as they dropped two more points and fail to keep the pressure on Real Madrid. In addition to having a tough time creating goal scoring opportunities, defensively they look extremely shaky. Hansi Flick will need to figure out a way to remedy that and quick as their next match is against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.