Alves finds Messi in space and plays a square pass to him, but Messi is quickly closed down and the ball runs to Xavi, whose shot sails over the bar.

Messi receives the ball, turns and has a chance to run at the PSG defence, but chooses to pass, and the move ends with Iniesta curling a shot just wide.

Messi starts dropping deeper into midfield to look for the ball, showing how PSG’s setup is limiting his space up front.

A bouncing ball reaches Messi in the box; he controls and tries to shift it for a shot, but Thiago Silva times his challenge perfectly to dispossess him.

After Ibrahimović loses possession, Messi has a chance to run at the PSG defence, but Alex makes a well-timed tackle and Messi struggles to impose himself.

Matuidi and Beckham combine effectively to contain Messi, standing off him without diving into tackles and alerting their defenders to his movement.

Messi misplaces a pass and overhits it toward Alves, who still manages to win a corner, underlining how little space Messi has found so far.

Alves clips a brilliant outside-of-the-boot pass over the PSG defence, and Messi times his run perfectly before drilling a low left-footed shot from the left side of the box into the bottom right corner.

Messi bursts through defenders, cuts inside Thiago Silva and curls a shot that bends just wide of the far post by a matter of inches.

On the stroke of half-time, Messi goes off injured, rubbing the back of his thigh as Fàbregas comes on to replace him for the second half.