'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#3 All hail saviour Messi
Cometh the hour, cometh Lionel Messi. The Argentine wizard once again turned the tables on its head with a brilliant assist for Munir's equaliser and saved his side's beacon. He was quite off the mark in the season's first defeat to Leganes in the midweek shocker and was relegated to the bench today ahead of the all-important trip to London. And supposedly, he had enough of the shambolic display he was made to witness helplessly.
Messi came on in the 55th minute, and the impact was almost immediate. He picked out spaces in the midfield that his side otherwise couldn't until that point and started laying crosses to Coutinho and Dembele. Barcelona were more threatening than ever, and particularly, created more and better chances, with Messi at the heart of it all. He even hit the post in the 77th minute, but that was, in a retrospect, a sign of things to come.
You knew that if someone had to pull a rabbit out of the hat and rescue Barcelona, then it had to be the Argentine himself. And so he proved to be the talisman again - Messi saw off a challenge from his opposite number around the box on the right and laid off for Munir to equalise with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Barcelona were level, and even if a winner never came, at least avoided consecutive defeats.
