Madrid, Dec 7 (IANS) Ferran Torres scored a first-half hat-trick as FC Barcelona roared back from conceding an early goal to beat Real Betis 5-3 in La Liga.

Antony put Betis ahead in just the sixth minute of the match, before Barcelona took complete control.

Torres scored after 11 and 13 minutes to overturn Betis’ early lead. Swedish winger Roony Bardghji added a third on the half hour and Torres completed his hat-trick in the 40th minute, reports Xinhua.

Lamine Yamal’s penalty around the hour mark made it 5-1. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick began to rest players such as Pedri, which allowed Betis to pull back two late goals through Diego Llorente and Cucho Hernandez.

Alex Berenguer scored the winner in Athletic Bilbao’s 1-0 home victory over Atletico Madrid, curling a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Jan Oblak from outside the penalty area in the 85th minute.

Villarreal claimed a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Getafe, whose midfielder Pere Milla was shown a red card in the 47th minute.

Tajon Buchanan put Villarreal ahead three minutes later, and Georges Mikautadze doubled the lead in the 64th minute to strengthen Villarreal’s third place in the table.

Deportivo Alaves won a Basque derby 1-0 at home to Real Sociedad, with Lucas Boye’s penalty in first half injury time separating the two sides.

Oviedo had a 0-0 draw at home to Mallorca on Friday.

–IANS

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