Lionel Messi and Trincao came off the bench to spark Barcelona to a 3-2 comeback over Real Betis on Sunday night at the Estadio Benito Villamarin in Seville.
Days after pulling out a miracle fight-back at Granada in the Copa del Rey, Barcelona pulled out another second half comeback to extend their unbeaten streak in all competitions to six.
With his side down after an opening Borja Iglesias goal for Betis, the Argentine scored just minutes after entering the pitch and paved the way for another via an own goal to give Barcelona the lead. Betis pulled level thanks to a Victor Ruiz goal, but a clever steal and left-footed strike from Trincao earned the visitors the spoils.
It is not often that Messi doesn’t start, but such was the case on Sunday as the Argentine started on the bench, along with midfield stalwarts Pedri and Frenkie de Jong. That meant Miralem Pjanic and Riqui Puig each received a chance to impress. Meanwhile, taking Messi’s place in attack was Martin Braithwaite.
Koeman had to go to his bench much sooner than he wanted as an injury forced Ronald Araujo off the pitch with De Jong summoned to replace the Uruguayan centre-back.
There were few chances between the two sides for most of the first half-hour until a glaring missed header from Clement Lenglet off an inch-perfect cross from Jordi Alba.
Betis had no problems inviting the pressure in hopes of striking on the counter, and their plan worked to a tee when they broke the deadlock toward the end of the half to take a 1-0 lead. The counter-attack was led by Nabil Fekir, who swung a pass out wide right to Emerson and the cross from the Barcelona loanee met the foot of Borja Iglesias for the goal.
Koeman made a change to start the second stanza, with Braithwaite yielding his place to Pedri, but even before the hour mark, Koeman had seen enough and summoned Messi to replace Riqui Puig, while Pjanic was replaced by Trincao.
It took just seconds for Messi to make an impact, as he collected a pass from Dembele and with time and space, rocketed a left-footer that beat Robles at the near post to even things at 1-1.
The visitors would get the go-ahead goal shortly thereafter with Messi setting the table with a one-timed pass to Alba that an offside Trincao smartly did not touch. Alba’s cross reached Griezmann, but the French striker was unable to get a shot off, however the ball deflected off the leg of Betis defender Victor Ruiz and rolled into goal for a Barcelona lead.
Betis would respond though and minutes after mistakenly redirecting a goal into his own net, Victor Ruiz redeemed himself by thumping in a header off a freekick to make it 2-2 with a quarter-hour to play.
Koeman then made his last change of the night with Samuel Umtiti on for Sergio Busquets, which pushed De Jong forward into midfield.
Betis fancied a winner and mounted a charge for a third goal with the introduction of Sergio Canales, but Trincao and Barcelona had other ideas. A split-second after picking Victor Ruiz’s pocket just inside the Betis area, the young Portuguese curled a left-footer that scraped the bottom of the crossbar before rippling the net to hand Barcelona a 3-2 lead, which they held until the final whistle to leave Andalusia with another three points.
Match Sheet:
2.- Real Betis: Joel, Emerson, Mandi, Victor Ruiz, Alex Moreno, Paul (Guido Rodriguez, min. 75), Guardado, Ruibal (Rodri, min. 65), Juanmi (Tello, min. 75), Fekir (Canales, min. 83), Borja Iglesias (Loren Moron, min. 83).
3.- Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Araujo (De Jong, min. 12), Lenglet, Alba; Busquets (Umtiti, min. 77), Pjanic (Trincao, min. 57), Riqui Puig (Messi, min. 57); Griezmann, Dembele, Braithwaite (Pedri, min. 46).
Goals: 1-0, min. 38: Borja Iglesias; 1-1, min. 59: Messi; 1-2, min. 68: Victor Ruiz (og); 2-2, min. 75: Victor Ruiz; 2-3, min. 79: Trincao
Referee: Del Cerro Grande (Madrid).
Yellow cards: De Jong (Min. 47) for Barcelona, Dembele (Min. 64) for Barcelona, Busquets (Min. 74) for Barcelona, Victor Ruiz (Min. 77) for Betis
Red cards: None
Stadium: Benito Villamarin
Attendance: 0
