Alba: With Messi on the pitch, Barcelona are always better

Jordi Alba spoke to Movistar after Barcelona's 5-2 win against Real Betis on Saturday ended a four-game winless run in La Liga. 

1-1 at half-time

"We deserved to go in at the break with a clear advantage. We were far superior to Betis, both in the first half and the second half. It is true the red card made things easier. But we should have been ahead at half-time, not level.

"It angers you to a certain extent that you play well, have chances and the opposition only have two, a shot from Tello that went over and then Sanabria's goal to make it 1-1. 

"We had bad luck with (Griezmann's missed) penalty and we had four or five other really clear chances, but in the second half we made the most of our opportunities." 

Full-backs

"To be honest Betis didn't get forward much. Defensively we're a more compact, solid team, but it's normal that they create some chances because all teams in the league have a lot of quality." 

Messi

"The quality of the squad is there but both the team and I want Leo on the pitch. He's the best in the world and we always want him to play. It's the coach's decision. In the second half, Leo helped us a lot. It's obvious that we're better when he's on the pitch."