After having to watch Bayern Munich hammer Barcelona in the Champions League semifinal second leg from the bench for the entire 90 minutes, Lionel Messi made a big impact as a substitute against Real Betis in their La Liga game Sunday, scoring two goals to pull Barca to within one win of clinching the Spanish League title.
Real Madrid had cut the lead to eight points at the top, following a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Real Valladolid, courtesy a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Knowing that they could not win the title this week, Barcelona went about trying to banish the ghosts of the Champions League defeat to Bayern, and they did just that, thanks to Messi, who came off the bench in the second half to turn the game around in the home side's favor at the Camp Nou.
The win keeps Barcelona 11 points clear of Real Madrid, with four games remaining in the season. Barcelona now just need two more points to regain the La Liga title.
"We had a lot of chances in the first half, but we didn't score from them," Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova said. "It wasn't an easy match.
"We have to think we will need two more points because Madrid will probably collect all theirs."
The game did not quite go according to plan for Barcelona, with Dorlan Pabon giving Betis the lead in the second minute. Alexis Sanchez equalized seven minutes later, only for Betis to go into halftime leading 2-1 thanks to a brilliant strike from Ruben Perez in the 43rd minute.
David Villa, who squandered quite a few opportunities in the first half, restored parity on 56 minutes, before his replacement Messi struck in the space of 11 minutes to give Barca a 4-2 victory, and take his league tally to 46, four adrift of last season's record breaking 50.
"The management of Messi's injury allowed him to play this evening," Vilanova said. "Maybe he's not in top physical shape now because he hasn't been able to train as much as his teammates."
Earlier, Real came from behind to seal a 4-3 victory over Valladolid at the Bernabeu. Oscar Gonzalez gave the away side a shock lead in the eighth minute, before an own goal from Marc Valiente on 26 minutes made it 1-1.
Ronaldo then gave Real the lead with a header just past the half-hour mark, only for Valladolid to equalize three minutes later through Javi Guerra. Kaka, though, restored Real's advantage four minutes into the second half, before Ronaldo's second goal -- his 33rd in La Liga this season -- on 70 minutes gave Real a two-goal cushion.
Valladolid, however, refused to lie down, with Lluis Sastre scoring to set up a frantic end, with Real holding out for all three points.
Results: Barcelona 4-2 Real Betis; Sevilla 3-0 Espanyol; Real Mallorca 1-1 Levante; Real Zaragoza 3-0 Rayo Vallecano; Deportivo La Coruna 0-0 Atletico Madrid; Real Madrid 4-3 Real Valladolid; Valencia 4-0 Osasuna; Granada 1-0 Malaga; Celta Vigo 1-1 Athletic Bilbao.
