MADRID (Spain): Lionel Messi came off the bench at half-time to rescue Barcelona by scoring twice in their 5-2 victory over Real Betis on Saturday.
Messi had been rested by Ronald Koeman but was put on after Antoine Griezmann missed a penalty before Antonio Sanabria cancelled out Ousmane Dembele’s opener.
But within four minutes of his introduction, Messi gave Griezmann an open goal with a superb dummy and then scored twice himself, the first a penalty that saw Betis’ Aissa Mandi sent off for a handball on the line.
In between, Loren Moron had given Betis brief hope but Messi’s second and a late strike from Pedri ensured Barcelona ended their four-match winless run and climbed to eighth in La Liga.
“Leo finished the match against Kiev with some problems,” said Koeman. “He wasn’t in a position to play in the first half but we talked about him being on the bench and said he would come on if he felt good.
