Lionel Messi dished out three assists to lead Barcelona to a comeback 2-3 victory over Real Betis on Sunday night at the Estadio Benito Villamarin.

While the Argentine was unable to find a way past Betis goalkeeper Joel Robles, he set the table for teammates Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets and Clement Lenglet to score as Barcelona twice came from behind to claim all three points in Andalusia.

Barcelona's performance, particularly in the first half, will do little to quell the doubts surrounding the squad, but a strong second half and a character-building comeback win should help the confidence at the Camp Nou.

On the heels of the last-second mid-week Copa del Rey loss in Bilbao, Barcelona boss Quique Setien went with a starting XI that surprisingly excluded Jordi Alba and Ansu Fati. Instead, Junior Firpo slotted in at left-back, while Sergi Roberto was pushed forward into more of an attacking role.

Betis were all over Barcelona at the start and they were handsomely rewarded when VAR ruled that Nabil Fekir's shot struck the outstretched elbow of Clement Lenglet, resulting in a penalty. Sergio Canales stepped up and calmly stroked the spot-kick past Barcelona shot-stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to make it 1-0 to Betis.

Barcelona responded like a champion, and of course it had to start with Messi, who floated an inch-perfect pass into the charging De Jong before the Dutchman took the pass of his chest and volleyed it in to pull Barcelona level.

The goal gave Barcelona a big lift and Messi should have made it two after a pass from Antoine Griezmann, only to be denied by Joel. However, a giveaway from Arturo Vidal in midfield halted any momentum as Betis broke quickly and Fekir, allowed plenty of room by Samuel Umtiti, fired in a rocket past Ter Stegen for a 2-1 advantage.

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Betis reasserted their control after the Fekir goal as Barcelona continued to look shaky when playing out of the back, while the Betis defenders were snapping at their heels at every chance.

Barcelona got a break, though, moments before half-time when the Betis defence made a mess of a free-kick played in by Messi and Busquets was there to pounce and sweep in the leveller to make it 2-2.

With the score still tied nearing the hour mark, Setien turned to his bench for the first time, hauling off Junior and Vidal for Alba and Arthur Melo respectively.

For the second time on the night, Joel pulled off a big save to prevent a Messi goal, which was then followed by a Messi chip that went spinning wide.

Messi wasn't having any luck at finishing, but his playmaking was spot-on, and he served up a ball via a free-kick that Lenglet headed in past the slipping Joel to earn Barcelona their first lead at 2-3.

Betis' hopes of finding an equaliser got a lot more difficult with 15 minutes remaining when Fekir was given a second yellow card for protesting after receiving an initial yellow for a foul on Lenglet. But Barcelona's French defender would give the Andalusians a lifeline minutes later for a rash challenge on Joaquin Sanchez to warrant his second yellow card of the night, leaving it 10 vs 10 for the final 10 minutes.

In the end, Barcelona were able to see things out with Ter Stegen going relatively untroubled in goal, thus earning a hard-fought and warmly welcomed three points.