FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi came in as a half-time substitute to help the club register a convincing 5-2 victory against Real Betis in their La Liga encounter at the Camp Nou on Saturday.

Lionel Messi scored two goals and made a major contribution to a struggling Barcelona side as they finally managed to secure their first La Liga victory in five games. As a result, the Catalan giants have moved up to eighth place in the La Liga table. That still sounds like a grim position for a team like Barcelona, but it is a step in the right direction considering the fact that they had been sitting in 12th place earlier in the season.

Ousmane Dembele, one of the players who is rumoured to be going on sale in January, gave Barcelona the lead with a powerful effort in the 22nd minute. However, they were not able to hold on for long, as Antonio Sanabria scored an equaliser in the closing minutes of the first half.

Messi came on as a substitute for the second half, and helped clear the path for Antoine Griezmann to tap in for the lead. The Argentine then extended the lead thanks to yet another goal from the penalty spot in the 60th minute after Aissa Mandi was sent off for handling the ball from Dembele's shot on the line. It is worth noting that this time, the VAR decision went in favour of Barca, contrary to coach Ronald Koeman's claims that the decision always goes against his club.

Messi finally scored his first goal from open play last night, as he linked up with Sergi Roberto, who backheeled the ball towards his captain. Messi smashed the ball into the back of the net for Barca's fourth goal.

Before that, Messi had scored all of his previous six goals this season from the spot in games for the club and for Argentina. He could have scored a hat trick but the goal was disallowed for offside. Moron pulled one back for Betis in the 73rd minute but Pedri closed the evening with Barca's fifth goal in the final minute of regulation time.

Ronald Koeman will be relieved to have secured the La Liga victory for his side, who have been facing a crisis behind the scenes. The entire board of directors resigned a few weeks ago, and the squad is in the midst of a total overhaul. It remains to be seen if Koeman can turn things around enough to convince Messi to stay beyond the current season.

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi has put an end to his standoff with Barcelona, for now AFP / LLUIS GENE
Lionel Messi Barcelona