Perfect Raphinha hat-trick keeps Barca flying as a furious Mourinho cries referee conspiracy

Raphinha does it again as Barca pull clear

Raphinha has been busy backing Lamine Yamal to win the Ballon d'Or, but it is tough to explain the Brazilian forward taking second billing to anyone right now. After scoring a hat-trick in midweek, he followed up with another in Barcelona's 3-1 win at Sevilla. This was a perfect hat-trick - right foot, header, left foot - and further underlined the fact that Raphinha is far from out of position up front.

At 29, this is a player belatedly finding his true calling. The variety of his goals proves that Raphinha can now do it all, and Barca are in irresistible form, already five points clear of second and six ahead of Real Madrid.

Mourinho melts down after derby defeat

Real Madrid's misery deepened as Jose Mourinho's side lost the derby 2-1 to Atletico on Sunday. After an unusually subdued return to life in LaLiga, we are now getting the full Mourinho. The criticism of the appointed referee began in a veiled way beforehand and was rather more obvious after the defeat.

Mourinho accused Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias of not handling the pressure and even brought printouts to the press conference. He talked of "two clear red cards" and those familiar with Cristian Romero's career will perhaps feel that he had a point regarding the Atletico defender's follow-through on Jude Bellingham, although the stills of that looked rather worse than the real-time replays.

"The ones who should be really happy are the referee appointment committee because everything was very strange," Mourinho complained. "They assign a referee who at 41 has never been an international referee so it's clearly not because he's a great referee."

The dark hints at conspiracies against his team are nothing new with Mourinho. But they cannot mask the evidence of a gulf to Barcelona that shows little sign of closing. As against Betis, when faced with quality opposition Real Madrid have been found wanting.

Elsewhere in LaLiga

Celta Vigo were big winners, putting five past Racing Santander. But there is still no joy for Valencia after sacking Carlos Corberan, with the final goal of the weekend a vicious stoppage-time hit by La Real's Ander Barrenetxea to stun Mestalla.

LaLiga results: Espanyol 1-3 Elche, Osasuna 1-1 Rayo Vallecano, Athletic Club 0-0 Alaves, Celta Vigo 5-0 Racing Santander, Sevilla 1-3 Barcelona, Getafe 1-0 Malaga, Atletico Madrid 2-1 Real Madrid, Deportivo A Coruna 1-1 Real Betis, Villarreal 3-1 Levante, Valencia 2-3 Real Sociedad.