Jordi Alba hailed two-goal captain Lionel Messi after Barcelona‘s 5-2 defeat of Real Betis.
The Blaugrana ace scored twice off the bench on Saturday at the Camp Nou.
Messi had previously played every minute of every match this season for Barcelona before being left out of Ronald Koeman‘s starting line-up against Betis. With the game level at half time, the Argentine made the difference as a substitute.
“His quality is there [for all to see],” Alba said about the Barcelona No.10. “He came on and changed the game. He’s a different player.
“It was the boss’s decision [to leave Messi out] today. We play a lot better with Messi [on] and we all want him on the pitch.”
Messi’s arrival at half time was prompted by Barcelona‘s lack of efficiency in the first half, with Antoine Griezmann missing a number of key chances.
“It makes you angry but that’s football,” Alba said on Barcelona‘s missed chances. “We were unlucky with the penalty, the post… we had clear [chances]. But we scored them in the second half.”
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