Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admitted that his side took their foot off the pedal against Real Betis and nearly paid the price.

The Catalan outfit looked high and dry after racing to a 2-0 lead at the interval thanks to a double strike by Samuel Eto'o but the Andalusian side duly capitalized on the hosts' sloppiness by clawing back to level 2-2.

Barca looked to be on the verge of another morale sapping result until Eidur Gudjohnsen popped up 11 minutes from time to net in the winner.

Another goal feast looked on the menu as Barça romped to a 2-0 half time lead against Betis and thoroughly dominated the contest thanks to a Samuel Eto'o brace.

"At the beginning of the second half, we slacked off a little and we paid for it dearly," Guardiola told reporters during the post-game interviews.

"They (Betis) did not have anything to lose and they came out attacking and it became difficult for us to regain our rhythm," he added.

"I'm happy not only with the result, but with our first half performance and also for the way we reacted after they made it 2-2.

"It was the opposite of what happened the other day against Racing (Santander) where we also created countless opportunities but couldn't score then," recalled Guardiola.

"Gudjohnsen and Busquets were brought on to give us more order in midfield while Bojan was sent in to generate more atmosphere in the stadium.

"The changes worked this time but on another day, it might not turn out so well because you always do whatever is best for the team at that moment." he concluded.