Barca back with a bang

Last updated : 23 February 2003 By Martyn Elliott

The Catalan giants recorded their second successive Primera Liga win by defeating Real Betis 4-0, thanks to a Javier Saviola hat-trick and a Philippe Cocu strike.

Afterwards new manager Raddy Antic said: "I'm completely content with the players and I'm very happy with the level of play tonight.

"We started perfectly and in the end got a big victory. Just two weeks ago everyone was talking about the second division and now the situation has totally reversed."

The result saw Barca climb to eighth in the table, but they are still 17 points behind leaders Real Sociedad.

In Italy Inter also romped to a comfortable home victory, 3-1 against Piacenza.

All three goals came in a devastating four-minute spell in the second half, with Gabriel Batistuta opening the scoring and Christian Vieri adding the second and third.

Dario Hubner grabbed a late consolation for the visitors.

Inter now lie second in the Serie A table, behind Juventus on goal difference.

Earlier Bayer Leverkusen ended their losing run with a 2-1 win at Hanover, thanks to late goals from Sebastian Schoof and Jan Simak.