Barcelona 5-2 Real Betis: 4 talking points | LaLiga 2019/2020

#1 Antoine Griezmann finally comes to the fore

Griezmann scored a brace and had an assist

Antoine Griezmann became Barcelona's marquee signing of the summer as he completed his much-publicized €120m transfer from Atletico Madrid.

The 28-year-old had proved his mettle for five years under Diego Simeone, and it is expected that he would help relieve some of the goalscoring pressure on Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

However, heading into the game against Betis, the French international had yet to truly kick into gear for his new side, as he had an indifferent pre-season campaign and was sub-par in the defeat to Athletic Bilbao.

The injuries sustained by Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele left Griezmann as the only fit senior forward in the squad, placing an extra burden of leading the attack on his shoulder.

If there were doubts over his ability, the World Cup winner silenced his critics with an almost perfect display against Betis.

Griezmann opened his Barcelona account in the 41st minute when he connected with Sergi Roberto's cross on the volley, and even though he did not connect cleanly, the ball still trickled past Dani Martin to draw Barcelona level.

Five minutes after the restart, he put Barcelona into the lead, showing great technique to find the top corner and to leave Martin helpless in goal.

The icing on the cake came in the 77th minute when the former Real Sociedad man found himself in a good position to score a hat-trick, but unselfishly squared for Arturo Vidal to put Barcelona 5-1 up.

Big things are expected of Griezmann at Barcelona, and as he showed against Real Betis, he is more than capable of delivering at the levels expected of him.