Real Betis and FC Barcelona came into Saturday's meeting both enjoying their best ever starts to a league season, and the spectacular atmosphere at La Cartuja was matched by a game that had just about everything.

Seven goals, two more disallowed, a red card and plenty of drama eventually ended in a 5-2 victory for Hansi Flick's side, who have now won all eleven of their competitive games this season.

And with Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid next on the agenda, there are more exciting times to come this week.

Lamine makes magic look easy

Barça took charge of possession from the outset, and it took just ten minutes for Lamine Yamal to produce another moment of class. Collecting the ball outside the area, he seemed almost casually to decide that now might be a good time to score. A feint, a touch to set himself up and an exquisite curling finish into the top corner.

It would be astonishing had we not already got so used to Lamine doing that kind of thing.

After struggling to get into the game, Manuel Pellegrini's side began finding ways through the Barça defence, and in the 28th minute Valentín Gómez rose to meet a Fornals cross and head home the equaliser.

The game was now wide open. Álvaro Vallés produced a superb save to deny Adeyemi, while at the other end Joan García had to be alert to keep out former blaugrana Bellerín.

Rodri’s first for Barça

The pace was relentless, and Barça struck again in the 41st minute when Rodri headed home from a corner, scoring his first goal in blaugrana colours. But there was almost another extraordinary twist before the break.

Lo Celso unleashed a spectacular long-range volley that flew past Joan García, seemingly making it 2-2. La Cartuja erupted, but the celebrations were cut short when a VAR review spotted a handball by Cucho Hernández earlier in the move.

Yet more drama

The second half picked up exactly where the first had left off. There were chances at both ends before Gabriel Jesus scored twice in barely a minute, although only one counted. First, the Brazilian volleyed home a Lamine pass, only to be denied by an offside flag. Mere seconds later, Fermín released Lamine on the right, and his low cutback left Gabriel Jesus with the simplest of finishes to make it 3-1 in the 53rd minute.

Almost immediately, former Barça man Ez Abde raced clear and finished clinically across Joan García to bring Betis back to 3-2. The goal sparked a bizarre rumpus involving several players, with Lamine Yamal ending up on the ground after an incident with Facundo Bernal. The Betis player was shown a straight red card, leaving the home side with ten men and the atmosphere inside La Cartuja at boiling point.

Barça in charge

With the numerical advantage, Barça finally began to look more comfortable. In the 63rd minute, they restored their two-goal cushion, Lamine's free-kick struck the wall and looped towards the far post, where Pau Cubarsí got to the ball ahead of Vallés and popped it over for Eric García to finish from close range.

At 4-2, and with Betis a man down, Barça had finally given themselves some breathing space after an extraordinary hour of football. Betis looked resigned to defeat and the only question was how much more punishment Barça would unleash.

By the 80th minute, with rain lashing down on Seville, several home fans had already seen enough and left when Dani Olmo collected the ball on the edge of the area and pumped home goal number five.

There were two developments, one positive and the other not. Raphinha returned from his short absence from injury but Eric García departed early with what hopefully isn’t a serious fitness issue.

The victory makes it nine wins out of nine in La Liga, equalling Real Madrid’s at the start of the 1968/69 season. Next weekend, Barça will have the chance to set a new all-time best, and against Real Madrid themselves. El Clásico kicks off at 9pm CEST on Sunday.