Messi and Trincao offer Barca comeback victory above Betis
Lionel Messi came off the bench to haul Barcelona rear from a goal down against Real Betis to win 3-2 nonetheless it was winger Francisco Trincao who snatched success by choosing the perfect moment to score his first aim for the club.
Barca coach Ronald Koeman took the surprising decision to keep Messi and the in-form Frenkie de Jong out of his beginning lineup, perhaps with up coming week's Copa del Rey semi-final primary leg at Sevilla in mind, and saw his part fall behind to a Borja Iglesias strike on the counterattack in the 38th minute.
Messi levelled for Barca in the 59th, significantly less than two minutes after returning on, and then helped his side discover a second target by releasing Jordi Alba with a good sumptuous pass which resulted in Betis defender Victor Ruiz mailing the ball into his own net.
Ruiz made amends by powering in a header from a good Nabil Fekir free kick in the 75th minute but Portuguese Trincao had the final say, smashing a shot from just in the box in off the crossbar found in the 87th to finally log off the tag for Barca found in his 17th appearance in every competitions.
"I didn't need to score for my very own good but you need to help out when you're able to and I'm happy that we managed to get the get," Trincao told reporters.
"My workforce mates have always motivated me plus they all congratulated me on the target."
Barca, who have won their last 6 league video games, are second found in the standings on 43 points, seven behind leaders Atletico Madrid who've two games at hand.
The Catalans also pulled off an impressive comeback win against Granada in a Copa del Rey quarter-final tie on Wednesday, clawing their way back from two goals right down to win 5-3 in extra-time.
Barca defender Ronald Araujo was forced off in the 12th minute with an ankle difficulty and Koeman took another unorthodox approach by sending on De Jong, who has reinvented himself as an attacking midfielder, to deputise at centreback.
The Catalans produced another chaotic screen in defence but compensated because of their star-studded attack, particularly after Messi and Trincao came on in a double change from Koeman.
"We changed our frame of mind in the second 50 % and that was the main factor in obtaining the victory," added Trincao.
"In the first one half we were just a little fearful and we didn't take many risks."
