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Raphinha scored a hat trick as Barcelona restored their four-point lead at the top of LaLiga by thrashing Sevilla 5-2 at the Nou Camp.
Dani Olmo and João Cancelo were also on target as Hansi Flick’s side warmed up impressively for the second leg of their Champions League tie against Newcastle.
It was sweet revenge for Barca, who were thrashed 4-1 by Sevilla in October.
On this occasion it was Los Nervionenses who were comprehensively outplayed, though they did pull goals back at the end of each half through Oso and Djibril Sow.
Barca’s victory was their 12th in succession at the Nou Camp since returning to their spiritual home in November and took their goal tally in that sequence to 39.
They did it largely without Lamine Yamal, who was kept on the bench until the 67th minute as Flick opted to give the teenage star some rest.
The hosts were gifted the opportunity to take an early lead when Cancelo was clipped in the area by Sow after just seven minutes.
Raphinha gratefully accepted the chance as he calmly dinked home a Panenka-style penalty.
The Brazilian doubled the lead with a second spot-kick on 21 minutes after Cancelo again caused problems in the Sevilla box.
This time he wrong-footed José Ángel Carmona with a sharp move and the defender struck the ball with his hand as he slipped.
Raphinha opted for power on this occasion and buried a shot into the bottom corner.
Olmo, who had earlier forced a good save from Odisseas Vlachodimos with a long-range drive, added the third as Sevilla were picked apart in the 38th minute.
Marc Bernal was sent clear down the left and his low cross took a slight deflection to roll perfectly into the path of Olmo, who struck first time from just inside the area.
Sevilla rallied and gave themselves hope in first-half stoppage time as Oso met a superb Juanlu Sanchez cross with a well-placed volley.
Barcelona reasserted themselves after the restart as Raphinha completed his hat-trick on 51 minutes.
Fermín López teed up the opportunity with a driving run and Raphinha benefited from a big deflection off Nemanja Gudelj as his shot looped into the net.
Cancelo got on the scoresheet with a fine individual effort on the hour.
The former Manchester City full-back picked up the ball on halfway and powered into the area before cutting inside Gudelj and shooting through the legs of Vlachodimos and in off the post.
Robert Lewandowski spurned two good chances to add to Barca’s lead late on and Sow had the final word when he scored a consolation in stoppage time.