Griezmann stars as Barca win goal fest

Barcelona put last week's defeat at Athletic Bilbao behind them to comprehensively beat Real Betis 5-2 at the Camp Nou on a night which saw Antoine Griezmann play a major role in his side's victory. Despite missing Messi, Suarez and Dembele upfront, the home side showed they are not short of goalscorers. 

Barca dominated from start to finish, but they lacked the cutting edge to penetrate the Betis defence early on. Sergi Roberto almost headed home Alba's cross in the 13th minute and Griezmann scuffed an effort at the goalie before Betis took a shock lead after a quarter of an hour. Busquets played a lateral ball for Rafinha, who wasn't watching, Betis got the ball and played a few passes before Loren played in Fekir. Betis' new signing from Lyon made no mistake and the Camp Nou was stunned. 

Valverde's men continued to have the upper hand despite being in arrears and won various corners, but the Betis defence looked very solid. Rafinha had Barca's best opportunity eight minutes before half-time when his shot was deflected behind by Sidnei. As frustration started to grow inside the Camp Nou, it was 1-1. Carles Perez, who got a rare start, passed for Sergi Roberto and his pinpoint pass was volleyed home from less than 10 yards out. 

Rafinha was then a whisker away from making it 2-1 after Perez's splendid cross and then the half ended with the referee having to change the ball and it had burst. Betis needed the interval, but it did not get any better for them after the break. 

Carles Perez hit wide two minutes after the restart before Griezmann scored his second in the 50th minute. Sergi Roberto laid off the ball to him and he kept his cool and picked his spot before slotting into the far corner past the diving Dani Martin. The young Carles Perez hit wide four minutes later before scoring himself in the 56th minute. Busquets won the ball off Betis and then Semedo cut it back from the byline to Perez to score from outside the box. That put the game beyond Betis, but Barca were not finished.

On the hour mark, Jordi Alba got on the scoresheet after lovely build up play and Busquets got the assist. In 20 minutes, Barca had gone from 0-1 down to 4-1 up. The tempo of the game notably dropped in the half an hour and Arturo Vidal made it five 13 minutes from time with a fantastic strike in a top corner after Perez and Griezmann shone in the build up. 

Seconds after making it 5-1, Anssumane Fati came on for Carles Perez at just 16 becoming the second youngest ever player to play for Barca in a competitive fixture. Fati showed a couple of moments of good skill and his best chance was when he beat Pedraza and his shot went just past the far post in the 86th minute. We are likely to hear much more of him in the future. 

Betis had time to get a consolation in the 79th minute when Griezmann played an inexplicable pass towards his own goal and Loren smacked an absolute stunner into the far corner. Griezmann was denied by Dani Martin right at the end, but it was a great victory for the home side after losing last week in Bilbao. 

Barca now have three points, just one behind arch rivals Real Madrid, who slipped up on Saturday, while Betis have yet to get on the board in La Liga this season.