Barcelona: Claudio Bravo; Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Jordi Alba (Digne 76’); Rakitic, Busquets, Denis Suárez (Munir 70’); Messi, Luis Suárez, Arda Turan. 4-3-3.
Betis: Adán; Bruno, Mandi, Pezzella; Cejudo, Jonas Martin (Dani Ceballos 35’), Petros (Fabián 59’), Felipe Gutiérrez (Musonda 55’), Durmisi; Rubén Castro, Sanabria. 3-5-2.
Goals:
1-0. 06. Arda Turan. Poked shot past Adán after Jordi Alba crossed from left.
1-1. 21. Rubén Castro. Struck free kick over defensive wall in to far top corner.
2-1. 37. Messi. Picked up Sergi Roberto square pass and fired shot past keeper.
3-1. 42. Luis Suárez. Turned angled shot across Adán from Sergi Roberto cross.
4-1. 56. Luis Suárez. Tap-in close to goal after Turan and Messi combined.
5-1. 58. Messi. Collected Turan pass and cut through to shoot wide of keeper.
6-1. 82. Luis Suárez. Curled free kick over defensive wall in to near top corner
6-2. 84. Rubén Castro. Turned shot past Bravo after Cejudo free kick fell to him.
Yellow cards: Cejudo 45’, Luis Suárez 62’, Dani Ceballos 68’, Rubén Castro 77’.
Defending champions Barcelona got off to the best possible start with a thumping 6-2 victory over Betis on Saturday evening. Arda Turan opened the scoring in only the sixth minute from Jordi Alba’s cross, but that was quickly cancelled out by an impressive Rubén Castro free kick, the first goal that the Catalans had let in since last April. Messi rattled the crossbar on the half hour mark however, and a few minutes later he restored the lead with a shot from the edge of the area after picking up a short pass from Sergi Roberto. Luis Suárez added two more either side of half time, the first from Sergi Roberto’s cross, and the second after Turan and Messi combined to set him up. Two minutes later Messi helped himself to his second of the night, and the Argentinian forward brought a good save out of Adán before Suárez completed his hat-trick with a well struck free kick. Castro did score again for the visitors, somewhat spoiling Claudio Bravo’s last game between the sticks before moving on to Manchester City, but that was scant consolation for the Andalusians, who ended the day at the foot of the table.