Lewandowski again the difference, Bayern beats Dortmund 3-2

Once again, Robert Lewandowski proved the difference.

Bayern Munich's star forward scored one goal and set up another to help his team beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 away in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Lewandowski, who played for Dortmund between 2010 and 2014, took his tally to 17 goals in 13 games against his former club. He also clocked up his 11th goal in just six Bundesliga appearances for Bayern so far this season.

The win lifted Bayern three points clear of Dortmund, its greatest rival, and two clear at the top from second-place Leipzig ahead of the international break.

It was a cagey opening from both teams, each aware that the other was capable of punishing any mistakes.

Dortmund started with its fearsome attacking lineup of Erling Haaland, Gio Reyna, Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus.

But it was Poland striker Lewandowski who scored in the 24th minute before the goal was ruled out through VAR for offside in an extremely close decision.

Dortmund appeared subdued and Bayern seized control. Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman both had chances.

Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich had to be supported off the field 10 minutes before the break. Kimmich looked close to tears after injuring himself while attempting to stop Haaland with a foul. He was booked for the challenge.

Reus fired in under the crossbar with his first touch to Raphaël Guerreiro's cross in the 45th.

But there was still time before the break for David Alaba to equalize with a deflected free kick.

Lewandowski made it 2-1 three minutes after the interval when he got ahead of Mats Hummels to head Lucas Hernández' cross inside the far post.

Coman struck the post minutes later as Bayern maintained its strong start to the second half. Coach Hansi Flick evidently told his players to be more aggressive in closing down opponents' space and it forced mistakes from the home side.

Lucien Favre reacted by bringing on 17-year-old Jude Bellingham with half an hour remaining, and then Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt with around 20 minutes to go. Flick brought on Leroy Sané and Lewandowski set up the former Manchester City winger to effectively seal the result on a counterattack in the 80th.

Haaland pulled one back in the 83rd, but Bayern remained more likely to score. Lewandowski had a second goal ruled out for offside in injury time.

"There were a lot of goal chances for both sides," Flick said. "In the end we were a bit more decisive."

Messi comes off bench to score 2 in Barça's 5-2 win vs Betis

Lionel Messi came off the bench at halftime to score two goals as Barcelona beat 10-man Real Betis 5-2 on Saturday to end its fourgame winless streak in the Spanish league.

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said that he gave Messi some rare rest during the first half after his star player felt he needed more time to recover from Wednesday's 2-1 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League. It was Messi's first league game as a substitute in more than a year.

"If he had been completely fine, he would have played (from the start)," Koeman said. "We decided to leave him on the bench in case we needed him. (...) In the second half he was very important."

Ousmane Dembele blasted a shot past former Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to give the hosts the lead in the 22nd minute.

Betis forward Antonio Sanabria equalized in the final seconds of the first half that featured four clear misses by Barcelona's struggling forward Antoine Griezmann, including a penalty blocked by Bravo.

Messi spent the first half tucked in a winter coat and wearing a face mask like other substitutes in the otherwise empty Camp Nou. That all changed when Messi went on at the start of the second half for Ansu Fati and had a decisive impact.

Messi only needed four minutes to impact the match when he smartly skipped over a pass to let it run though for Griezmann to tap home.

Messi continued to show his playmaking skills. Deep inside Betis' area, Messi turned and fed a pass to Dembele, whose shot was goal-bound when defender Aissa Mandi blocked it with his arm. A video review led to Mandi being shown a red card for impeding a clear goal.

Messi stepped up and causally blasted his spot kick into the top right corner to make it 3-1 in the 61st.

Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini complained about the use of VAR, which advised the referee that he had not seen the handball by Mandi.

"I don't know if the referee or VAR is refereeing. We can't have two referees," Pellegrini said.

Lorenzo Morón got one back for Betis in the 73rd after Barcelona's defense struggled to mark winger Álex Moreno.

But Messi put the result beyond doubt when Sergi Roberto set him up with a fine back-heeled pass for the Argentina forward to get his sixth goal in all competitions this season.

Roberto also assisted Pedro "Pedri" González in the 90th as the 17-old-year midfielder claimed his first league goal.

Cagliari beats 10-man Sampdoria 2-0 in Serie A

Sampdoria saw its five-match unbeaten run end in a 2-0 loss at Cagliari in Serie A on Saturday after it was forced to play more than half the game with 10 men.

João Pedro converted a secondhalf penalty and Nahitan Nández also scored after Sampdoria defender Tommaso Augello was sent off five minutes before the interval.

Samp would have gone third with a win but it remained midtable, six points behind early leader AC Milan. Fiorentina played at Parma later Saturday with the visitors' coach, Giuseppe Iachini, under pressure.

Sampdoria arrived in Sardinia on a run of good form, having won four of its last five matches, but it hadn't won at Cagliari in 13 years and was given an early scare when João Pedro hit the crossbar.

Sampdoria's hopes of ending its negative streak on the Italian island diminished shortly before halftime when Augello brought down Nández as the Cagliari player was going clear from midfield. The referee initially showed Augello a yellow card but changed it to red on video review.