Barcelona looked off-colour and out of form but Messi's introduction in the second half helped lift the team and ensure that they made it to the Champions League semi-finals.
On Wednesday night, Lionel Messi may have played for only 30 minutes and by the looks of it he seemed to still be carrying a hamstring strain, but his entry on the pitch was enough to inspire Barcelona.
The Spanish side were a goal down against Paris Saint-Germain and looked uninspired as they struggled to get to the other half. But when Messi came on, Barcelona's style of play drastically changed, they seemed to attack more and took on the French team's defence more.
Messi's introduction in the gave gave Barca a new lease of life which went on to help them set up the vital equalising goal that helped decide a nerve wracking quarter-final.
Messi started the game on the substitute's bench for his team after failing to recover fully from the hamstring injury he suffered in Paris last week.
The Barca defence had Adriano Coreira being preferred to Marc Bartra although he is not a specialist central defender. PSG had three former Barca players playing Zalatan Ibrahimovich, Maxwell and Thiago Motta who were in their starting 11, while David Beckham was on the bench.
The game kicked off with Barcelona having their chance to take the lead in the game as Xavi Hernandez hit a free kick inches wide of the Paris post, in the second minute.
But that was virtually as good as it got for the home side in the first 45 minutes as Paris arrived in the Barca area with ease and the home side had goalkeeper Victor Valdes to thank for keeping the score at 0-0 in the first half. The keeper made good saves to deny Ezequiel Lavazzi, who robbed Sergio Busquets in the midfield, Lucas Moura, Lavazzi again, who drilled in a low shot after 25 minutes, and Moura for a second time after a powerful far post header.
The Spanish side were struggling in midfield with Busquets looking lost while Xavi appeared to be off the pace due to his recent hamstring problems.
Paris got a goal after Javier Pastore sprang through the offside trap to beat Valdes, who got a touch on his shot, but was unable to keep the ball out five minutes after the break.
That was the sign for Messi to start warming up, as Barcelona continued to look lost, but it was not until Dani Alves had fired over the bar that Messi joined the game along with Bartra who replaced Adriano, while Cesc left the pitch for Argentine.
The Argentinean's entry into the game produced a moral boost for his team and they almost levelled after a scramble as Iniesta's shot was blocked and Messi's control for once let him down.
With 20 minutes left, it looked as if the 'Messi effect' had worn out, but then Barcelona's No.10 collected the ball passed it to striker David Villa and Villa's layoff teed up Pedro who scored the equaliser.
The game was a cliff-hanger as there were moments for both teams with Messi struggling with his injury although Iniesta produced a moment of magic in the closing minutes, his shot went wide.
The game ended with Barcelona hitting long clearances and praying for the clock to tick down. Though Barcelona and Lionel Messi both were below par their efforts were enough to help them go through to the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-3 aggregate against Paris Saint-Germain.
Messi-magic seems to work even when the ace footballer isn't playing his best and Barcelona's scrappy performance yesterday was proof to it. But all said and done they managed to do what they needed to in order to move ahead in the Champions League.
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