Barcelona hosted Betis on Sunday, May 17, in matchday 37 of LaLiga, taking the field for its last home game of the season with a perfect record at the Camp Nou. The champions had won all 18 home matches and were set to finish the campaign at Mestalla on Saturday, May 23.
The night carried extra weight because Betis arrived having already secured Champions League qualification, a milestone that put the visitors among LaLiga’s top five for only the second time since 2004/05. For Betis, the achievement also reopened a competition it had not seen since 2005/06, when its only previous Champions League run ended in the group stage.
Barcelona’s run at home had already become one of the defining numbers of the season. The club had not lost at home to Betis since December 2021, and it entered the match after celebrating the title. That left Sunday’s game less about the standings and more about protecting the record that had carried Barcelona through the year.
The team sheet also told a story of what Barcelona was missing and what it was getting back. Lamine Yamal was ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring tear, but Andreas Christensen had returned to normal training after a long recovery. Barcelona also went into the match without any injuries or suspensions following the loss to Alavés, a detail that mattered because it gave the champions a fuller squad for the final stretch.
Betis’s place in the Champions League changes the club’s summer and its expectations, but Sunday still had the feel of a test for Barcelona’s consistency. A perfect home season does not happen by accident, and with one league match left at Mestalla, Barcelona had one last chance to turn a title celebration into a record that would stand on its own.
