Real Betis shock Barca on Messi's return
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E-mail Xinhua, November 12, 2018
FC Barcelona suffered a shock 4-3 home defeat to Betis on Sunday afternoon and the visitors outplayed them for much of the game.
Not even the return of Leo Messi could inspire a flat Barca side that rarely got to grips with Betis's pace on the break. Furthermore, Barca ended with 10 men after Ivan Rakitic was sent off with 10 minutes left to play.
Messi recovered from his broken arm and Malcom got his first start for Barcelona. And the game got off to a high-octane start with Luis Suarez going close for Barca, while Joaquin Sanchez fired over at the other end as both defenses left plenty of space.
Messi produced his first trademark run after just 11 minutes to bring the Camp Nou fans to their feet, but Betis opened the scoring in the 20th minute after an individual goal from Junior Firpo.
The Betis wing back found space down the left before turning the defense inside out and beating Ter Stegen on his near post.
The Barca keeper did well to deny Cristian Tello making it 2-0 shortly afterwards, but could do nothing as another Betis counter-attack left Joaquin with a simple chance to score from the middle of the area.
Betis were keeping three players up front and the Barca midfield and defense struggled to deal with the pace of their rivals, who got players forward every time they won the ball.
Arturo Vidal replaced Arthur for the second half as Barca looked to add aggression to their game and the half began with Messi shooting just wide again.
The Argentinean got Barca into the game with a 67th minute penalty after a foul on Jordi Alba, but a rare error from Ter Stegen, who allowed a shot from Lo Celso to creep though his hands, saw Betis reopen a two-goal lead with 20 minutes left to play.
Vidal again gave Barca hope with a goal from a Munir pass in the 79th minute, but just two minutes later Ivan Rakitic was sent off for a second yellow card two minutes later - a minute before Sergio Canales scored from close range to make it 4-3 to Betis.
Messi scored Barca's third deep into injury time, but there was no time for them to find an equalizer.
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