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Barcelona and Real Betis locked horns at the Camp Nou in an exciting La Liga encounter. In a captivating encounter, Barcelona recorded a thumping 5-2 victory and returned to winning ways domestically, as Lionel Messi came on as a substitute and stole the show.
In a shocking turn of events, the Argentine was surprisingly left on the bench by Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman. Lionel Messi was reportedly nursing a minor injury and was not risked by the Dutchman. Nevertheless, Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 22nd minute, as he put the finishing touches to a pass from Antoine Griezmann.
Griezmann then went from hero to villain quickly, as he missed a penalty to put Barcelona 2-0 ahead. At the stroke of the half time whistle, the Catalan giants were punished for the missed penalty, as Antonio Sarabia scored the equalizer for Real Betis.
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi takes center stage as a substitute
Lionel Messi came off the bench for Barcelona at the interval, as he replaced Ansu Fati for the second 45 minutes. The Argentine maestro showed his class in the second half and won the game for his side with a match-winning performance.
After Griezmann made amends for his penalty miss, Messi got his name on the scoresheet twice, as he finally scored his first open play goal of the season. Barcelona scored four goals in the second half, while Betis pulled one back through Loren Moron.
Sergi Roberto added gloss to the scoreline with a late fifth goal, as Lionel Messi once again played his hand in the goal with an assist. The Argentine was benched, but Koeman's decision was vindicated in some style, as the Barcelona icon came off the bench to inspire his side to victory.
Here are the best Tweets from an impressive Barcelona victory at the Camp Nou.
