From a wide free-kick on the left, Messi opts to square the ball short to Dani Alves, whose chipped return towards him fails to create a clear chance against Leverkusen’s taller defence.

Alexis Sánchez squares the ball across the box towards Messi, who was perfectly placed to open the scoring, but Daniel Schwaab’s interception denies him the chance.

Messi neatly controls the ball and beats Schwaab on the left side of the area, but off balance he can only prod a tame effort straight at goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

Messi delivers a superb outside-of-the-boot through ball that releases Alexis Sánchez, who takes a touch and calmly slides his finish into the net.

Messi attempts to waltz through the Leverkusen defence on the stroke of half-time but Corluka’s well-timed challenge halts his run.

Found by Busquets, Messi initially appears contained by Schwaab but tenaciously chases the ball and pressures Leno into conceding a throw-in near the Leverkusen box.

Thiago’s overhit pass to Alexis is kept in play by the Chilean, and Messi’s resulting shot is blocked and deflected behind for a Barcelona corner.

Messi produces a magical run, gliding past two defenders before delicately dinking a chip over Leno, only to see the ball come back off the post.

Bursting into the area down the left, Messi manages to get a shot away from a tight angle, but the position is too wide to seriously trouble Leno.

Messi plays a superb through ball to Dani Alves, who races in behind and unselfishly cuts the ball back across goal for Messi to slide in and finish, sealing Barcelona’s win.

Alves flicks a clever ball over the defence for Messi to run onto, but the move is halted as the linesman raises his flag for offside before any shot can truly develop.