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Barcelona came out on the winning side of a five-goal thriller against Real Sociedad on Saturday as Lionel Messi's brace drove the title contenders to a 3-2 victory and back within three points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid.
Messi struck twice to put the Blaugrana 2-0 up before Samuel Umtiti's own goal and Paco Alcacer's quick reply made it 3-1, and Xabi Prieto fired in Sociedad's second on the stroke of half-time.
Alcacer started in place of the suspended Neymar, who served the first match of the three-game ban he received as a result of the dissent he showed following a red card in the recent 2-0 defeat to Malaga.