Real Betis stun Barcelona in 7-goal thriller
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betis seemed faster sharper and hungrier while barcelonas midfield was repeatedly carved open on the break1 ten man barcelona were crushed 3-4 sunday afternoon at the camp nou with real betis handing them their second la liga defeat of the season1 it was barcelonas first home defeat in more than two years1 the last time they lost at home was in september 2016 against alaves1 now betis have ended barcas 42 games unbeaten run with a brilliant counter-attacking display1 junior firpo and joaquin had put betis two up at the interval before messi sparked hopes of a comeback from the spot1 giovani lo celso then capitalised on a rare mistake from marc-andre ter stegen only for barca to come again arturo vidal making it 3-2 having come on as a substitute1 ivan rakitic was sent off however with nine minutes left and sergio canales added a fourth for betis before messi poked home in the 92nd minute1 barca stay top of the table despite the defeat but their lead is down to one point with atletico madrid now breathing down their necks in second while espanyol will have a chance to move level on points with the catalans when they visit sevilla later on sunday1 ernesto valverdes barca play atletico at the wanda metropolitano after the international break1 returning star lionel messi scored a brace to record his 14th goal of the season but his efforts were not enough as the visitors capitalised on barcelonas leaking defence to score four times1 it took five passes for the opener the last a first-time drive from william carvalho to free junior down the left. he weaved inside sergi roberto and found the net1 barca had chances. messis free-kick found clement lenglet on the stretch but his lunging finish was tipped over by pau lopez. ter stegen denied cristian tello with his legs1 betis were soon pouring onto barcas defence again with juniors cross evading everyone before finding lo celso on the opposite side of the box. his cute cut-back picked out veteran winger joaquin who stabbed in betis second1 vidal replaced the jaded arthur melo at half-time and shot within a minute of the restart. messi feathered a through-ball for sergi but betis survived the scramble as luis suarez lashed wide1 barca had the momentum and in the 68th minute they pulled one back with jordi alba pulled down by tello and messi converting the penalty for his eighth league goal of the season1 but the comeback stalled three minutes later as betis restored their two-goal advantage. ter stegen made the error letting lo celsos shot slip through his fingers and into the far corner1 barca were not done yet. two substitutes combined for a second munir el haddadi laying on vidal to make it 3-2 but no sooner had the recovery began again it was halted1 first rakitic was sent off a second yellow card for a late challenge on lo celso and then canales pushed in betis fourth from juniors cross1 messi added his second in injury-time tapping a vidal pass over the line. the video assistant referee deemed messi onside but there was no more late drama as betis held on for a shock victory1