MADRID: Atletico Madrid jumped to the top of La Liga on Saturday with a 4-0 thrashing of Cadiz after Lionel Messi came on at half-time to rescue Barcelona against Real Betis.

Atletico claimed first place, ahead of Real Sociedad on goal difference, with the excellent Joao Felix scoring twice in another impressive victory for Diego Simeone’s side.

Luis Suarez and Marcos Llorente were also on target as Atletico made it five wins and two draws from their opening seven games and underlined their status as genuine title contenders.

They have scored 17 goals and conceded just two in that time.

After the international break, Atleti play at home to Barcelona, when Suarez and Antoine Griezmann will be up against their former clubs.

But while Suarez has enjoyed a superb start for Atletico, scoring five goals already, Griezmann continues to struggle in the shadow of Messi at Camp Nou.

Messi had been rested by Ronald Koeman but was thrown on with the game in the balance after Griezmann missed a penalty, before Betis’ Antonio Sanabria cancelled out Ousmane Dembele’s opener.

Within four minutes of his introduction, Messi gave Griezmann an open goal with a superb dummy and then scored twice himself, the first a penalty that saw Betis’ Aissa Mandi sent off for a handball on the line.

In between, Loren Moron had given Betis brief hope but Messi’s second and a late strike from Pedri ensured Barcelona ended their four-match winless run and climbed to eighth in La Liga, six points behind Atletico with a game in hand.

Barca coach Koeman said that he gave Messi some rare rest during the first half after his star player felt he needed more time to recover from Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. It was Messis first league game as a substitute in more than a year.

“If he had been completely fine, he would have played [from the start], Koeman said. “We decided to leave him on the bench in case we needed him. ... In the second half he was very important.”

Llorente set up Felix for Atletico’s opener before making it 2-0 with a goal of his own in the 22nd. It was then Felix’s turn to pass for Suarez to add to the lead. Felix headed in a final goal in the 90th.

“We are on a good run,” Llorente said. “We have taken a step forward and we have shown on the field we are a good team and the results are going our way.”

Sevilla later beat Osasuna 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Lucas Ocampos, that moves them up to 11th.

It is only the second time Sevilla have managed back-to-back wins this season, after a 3-2 victory over Krasnodar on Wednesday in the Champions League.

Also, Rafa Mir scored to give Huesca a 1-1 draw with Eibar, who had gone ahead on a goal by Esteban Burgos.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2020