Barcelona's title challenge took the tiniest of dents as a below-strength line-up dropped two points away to a spirited Real Betis outfit.

The Blaugrana had to field Martin Caceres and Gerard Pique at centre-back, while Aliaksandr Hleb also joined the fray in what was an unorthodox line-up. Betis, meanwhile, pinned their attacking hopes on Sergio Garcia and Cirardo Oliveira.

Within seconds of the start Caceres was involved as he rose to meet an inswinging cross with Ricardo, but although the defender led with his arm there was no sanction. In any case the 'keeper caught the ball with relative ease.

Straight down the other end Dani Alves found himself beaten to the punch by the roving Juanito, whose eventual ball across goal was somehow missed by the usually predatory Ricardo Oliveira: that the forward was offside, indeed, is little excuse.

Betis' task was made all the tougher by an injury to Juanito that necessitated his removal. On came Willian Lima, who has barely played a competitive match for Betis at all, and has managed a mere quarter-hour this season in the Copa del Rey.

Still, Barcelona were holding the ball well enough, and as long as Betis didn't do anything drastic they would find a way through soon. Surely?

Not so. 17 minutes in, it was Betis who drew first *lo**. Melli opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. It was a well-executed strike, to be sure; Achille Emana's outswinging corner was vicious, and so too was the defender's header. Sergi Busquets' marking left something to be desired, and Victor Valdes barely moved, but it was a textbook set-piece nonetheless.

Barcelona, in fact, were looking uncharacteristically uninventive by this time, their possession counting for very little not just in the final third but also in midfield. End product was lacking around the 20 minute mark in particular as both Eric Abidal and Dani Alves spurned fine opportunities to whip in a killer cross to a loaded box.

Truly Barca paid for this midway through the first half as Mark Gonzalez punished the Barcelona defence yet again with a second. It came from another dead-ball situation: Sergio Garcia whipped in the free-kick from the right, and with Mark Gonzalez 100% unmarked at the far post it was the simplest of simple finishes. Dani Alves was on another man and Aliaksandr Hleb, perhaps anticipating the counter, stood tapping his foot on the edge of the area, and thus the ex-Liverpool man's task was beyond easy.

Barcelona attempted to fight back through some Andres Iniesta dribbling soon afterwards, but Betis were still closing down with apl**** and thus they were having trouble breaking the hosts down.

Indeed, Willian Lima showed his worth just after the half hour mark with a superb saving tackle on Samuel Eto'o after good build-up play from Iniesta and Xavi.

At the other end Achilee Emana, on a personal mission to cover every single blade of gra**, fired a half-volley over the bar, and for a while it seemed that the Verdiblancos were in the ascendancy.

But Barcelona, in fact, were to pull one back. Juande clipped the heels of Andres Iniesta in the box, giving a penalty to Barcelona that Emana picked up a booking for protesting. Samuel Eto'o stepped up in an attempt to net his 100th Liga goal for the Blaugrana (and his 154th top-flight strike overall.) In fact Ricardo saved his weak spot-kick, but the Cameroonian did steer home the rebound.

The half ended with Lima, incredibly unlucky with injuries, coming off for Monzon, but the drama was not over.

Indeed, just after the restart it was so nearly 3-1. After Emana freed Mark Gonzalez down the left, Ricardo Oliveira this time made no mistake in converting the cross, but he was, as last time, offside. Right down at the other end Eto'o rolled a shot wide on the break when through on goal, and the fans were well and truly out of their seats.

Inevitably Pep Guardiola made his changes, Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry being wheeled out as big guns to replace Keita and the disappointing Hleb in a very attacking change.