BARCELONA: Lionel Messi came off the bench to score twice and lead Barcelona to a 5-2 home victory over Real Betis on Saturday, snapping a four-game winless streak in La Liga for the Catalans.
Antoine Griezmann, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele also scored for Barca while Antonio Sanabria and Loren Moron replied for Betis, who had Aissa Mandi sent off on the hour-mark.
Barca's first league victory since beating Celta Vigo on Oct. 1 took them into eighth in the table with 11 points from seven games. Real Sociedad lead the standings with 17.
Barca's captain was surprisingly left out of the starting lineup by coach Ronald Koeman, who later explained that Messi was feeling a little discomfort after the 2-1 win over Dynamo Kyiv in mid-week and had agreed to start on the bench.
Koeman's side played well in the first half without Messi but missed a slew of clear opportunities and found themselves drawing 1-1 when Sanabria cancelled out Dembele's superb opening strike on the stroke of halftime.
Messi was brought on at the start of the second period and promptly produced a sublime dummy to allow Griezmann to tap into an unguarded net and put Barca back in front in the 49th minute, the Frenchman finally making amends for missing four chances before the break including squandering a penalty.
Barca's all-time top scorer Messi then further stretched their lead in the 61st by emphatically dispatching a penalty after Aissa Mandi was shown a straight red card, following a VAR review, for using his arm to block a shot from Dembele.
Betis did manage to pull a goal back with 10 men when striker Loren netted at the far post to make it 3-2 after a marauding run down the left wing by Alex Moreno.
But Messi soon put the game beyond doubt, smashing the ball into the top corner after receiving a wonderful backheel from team mate Sergi Roberto, while 17-year-old Pedri struck the fifth after another fine pass from Sergi Roberto.
"The whole squad prefers it when Messi is on the pitch because he obviously gives you more options to win the game," said Barca's Jordi Alba.
"Today he came on and changed the game, he is a different player to everybody else and we were a different team when he was on the pitch."
Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix played a starring role with two goals and an assist as they crushed visitors Cadiz 4-0 to continue their rampant run of domestic form and go top of La Liga.
Club record signing Felix put Atletico ahead in the eighth minute, heading a cross from Marcos Llorente into an unguarded net after Cadiz goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma had fallen over as he tried to catch a long punt into the box.
Llorente doubled Atleti's advantage midway through the first half with a finish inside the near post to cap a week in which he was called up to the Spain squad for the first time.
Luis Suarez then combined with Felix to put Atletico further on top early in the second half, his goal being initially ruled out for offside then awarded following a VAR review.
Felix completed the rout with a ruthless finish in added time after a quick break involving substitutes Lucas Torreira and Angel Correa, netting a double for the third time in four matches in all competitions.
A fourth straight league win sent Atletico to the summit on goal difference, level on 17 points with second-placed Real Sociedad, who have played a game more, and one point ahead of Real Madrid in third. Agencies