Lionel Messi struck twice to help Barcelona remain within one point of La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid, despite an insipid display.

Only the Argentine was at his best as the Blaugrana scraped a victory at the Nou Camp, as the Spanish title race heads towards a thrilling finale.

Barcelona had endured a horrid week after FIFA banned them from transfer activity until the summer of 2015 and showed their disgust before the game by producing a huge banner in support of their youth academy, La Masia.

Tata Martino was clearly thinking about Wednesday’s quarter-final clash against Atletico in the Champions League when he selected the team, with both Neymar and Fabregas left on the bench.

The former had scored the equaliser for Barcelona in the first leg of that tie, but the latter has been in poor form for several weeks.

After 15 minutes Alexis Sanchez took the ball down out of the sky brilliantly, burst into the box and tried to wriggle through a cloud of Real Betis defenders.

Jordi Figueras stuck out his leg and the forward fell over it. Referee Manuel Lopez Fernandez pointed to the spot and Lionel Messi casually dispatched the penalty, low to the goalkeeper’s left.

It was his fourth strike from the spot in his last four league games – although he would later go on to miss another spot kick in the dying stages.

Messi was key again five minutes later, stroking a beautiful ball out to Adriano on the left-hand-side of the box.

The full-back’s wicked low cross was met by Pedro, who deflected it into Dani Alves’s path, but the Brazilian could not steer home from close range.

Real Betis began to take a bit more control, showing they had not turned up simply to be beaten despite their desperate league position.

Cedrick forced Jose Manuel Pinto into a low save and Alvaro Vadillo lashed wildly over the bar from 25 yards out.

It was Messi making waves again, five minutes before the interval. The playmaker dribbled the ball to just outside the area and curled a left-foot strike fractionally wide of Adan’s post.

The second half began with Barcelona pressure, Messi threading the ball through to Pedro. The Spaniard dallied on it a fraction too long and Adan was out quickly to deny him.

Sunderland’s Alfred N’Diaye, on loan at Betis, went close with an effort which Pinto tipped over his crossbar as the visitors tried to make Barcelona pay for not adding to their lead.

Spurred into action, Barcelona launched a counter-attack, with Iniesta feeding Alexis, but the forward couldn’t take the ball around former Real Madrid goalkeeper Adan.

Xavi also clipped the top of the crossbar with a free-kick, before Barcelona got the second goal they craved.

Adriano’s through-ball aimed at Pedro was deflected into his own net by the unfortunate Figueras and the game looked settled.

But within a minute, Betis had pulled one back thanks to substitute Ruben Castro.

The defensive problems that have plagued Martino’s side reared their head once more, with neither Javier Mascherano nor Marc Bartra concentrating.

Castro roamed into the area without anybody to impede his progress and bobbled a shot beyond Pinto and into the bottom left corner.

Barcelona responded by throwing on Fabregas and Neymar for Pedro and Alexis and it soon paid dividends.

Neymar forced Antonio Amaya into handballing his cross from the left and the referee had no choice but to point to the spot.

Messi stepped up and fired to Adan’s left, but his shot was parried. Unfortunately for Betis, the ball landed back at Messi’s feet and he knocked home the rebound to score his 25th league goal in as many games.

The scoreline looked comfortable for Barcelona but the performance was far from vintage – effectively needing two penalties and an own goal to beat relegation fodder Betis.

At this stage of the season though, even Blaugrana supporters who usually expect to see good football would not begrudge their manager a few more narrow victories like this.

—Daily Mail