<p>Lionel Messi scored on his 500th Barcelona appearance as the European champions moved back to the top of the table with a 4-0 win over Real Betis as La Liga returned from a curtailed winter break on Wednesday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Atletico Madrid remain level on points with Barca thanks to two goals in the final two minutes from Angel Correa and Antoine Griezmann to emerge 2-0 victors at Rayo Vallecano.<br /><br />Barca celebrated their fifth trophy of 2015 before kick-off after adding the Club World Cup to their haul last time out with Messi captaining the side in the absence of Andres Iniesta.<br /><br />Yet, on a day dominated by controversial refereeing decisions, they were handed a gift to open the scoring after a decent start by Betis.<br /><br />Antonio Adan clearly played the ball before catching Messi as he punched the ball to safety, but referee Inaki Vicando Garrido surprised everyone by pointing to the spot.<br /><br />Neymar hit the bar with the resulting penalty, but Heiko Westermann could only turn the rebound into his own net under pressure from Ivan Rakitic.<br /><br />From Betis' misfortune the floodgates opened as a lovely one-two between Neymar and Messi allowed the later to tap home his 425th goal for the club.<br /><br />Luis Suarez added a third with a cool finish from Sergio Busquets's pass inside the first minute of the second-half.<br /><br />And the Uruguayan rounded off the scoring seven minutes from time as Barca set a new record tally for the calendar year of 180 goals.<br /><br />Atletico looked to be heading for a second consecutive disappointing result after losing 1-0 at Malaga before the 10-day winter break as Rayo's defence - fresh from conceding 10 to Real Madrid last time out - stood firm for 88 minutes at Vallecas.<br /><br />However, Diego Simeone's substitutions swung the game in Atletico's favour as Thomas Partey teed up Correa to smash home his first goal in three months.<br /><br />And another substitute Jackson Martinez then played in Griezmann to register his 13th goal of the season with a lovely dinked finish two minutes later.</p>
<p>Lionel Messi scored on his 500th Barcelona appearance as the European champions moved back to the top of the table with a 4-0 win over Real Betis as La Liga returned from a curtailed winter break on Wednesday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Atletico Madrid remain level on points with Barca thanks to two goals in the final two minutes from Angel Correa and Antoine Griezmann to emerge 2-0 victors at Rayo Vallecano.<br /><br />Barca celebrated their fifth trophy of 2015 before kick-off after adding the Club World Cup to their haul last time out with Messi captaining the side in the absence of Andres Iniesta.<br /><br />Yet, on a day dominated by controversial refereeing decisions, they were handed a gift to open the scoring after a decent start by Betis.<br /><br />Antonio Adan clearly played the ball before catching Messi as he punched the ball to safety, but referee Inaki Vicando Garrido surprised everyone by pointing to the spot.<br /><br />Neymar hit the bar with the resulting penalty, but Heiko Westermann could only turn the rebound into his own net under pressure from Ivan Rakitic.<br /><br />From Betis' misfortune the floodgates opened as a lovely one-two between Neymar and Messi allowed the later to tap home his 425th goal for the club.<br /><br />Luis Suarez added a third with a cool finish from Sergio Busquets's pass inside the first minute of the second-half.<br /><br />And the Uruguayan rounded off the scoring seven minutes from time as Barca set a new record tally for the calendar year of 180 goals.<br /><br />Atletico looked to be heading for a second consecutive disappointing result after losing 1-0 at Malaga before the 10-day winter break as Rayo's defence - fresh from conceding 10 to Real Madrid last time out - stood firm for 88 minutes at Vallecas.<br /><br />However, Diego Simeone's substitutions swung the game in Atletico's favour as Thomas Partey teed up Correa to smash home his first goal in three months.<br /><br />And another substitute Jackson Martinez then played in Griezmann to register his 13th goal of the season with a lovely dinked finish two minutes later.</p>