Barcelona Survive Granada Comeback Attempt, Win 4-1 Without Lionel Messi

Despite Jeremie Boga's early second-half equaliser, Barcelona pulled back within two points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid after Luis Suarez, Paco Alcacer and Neymar scored along with a Matthieu Saunier own goal in a 4-1 win at Granada.

Blaugrana manager Luis Enrique was forced to alter his lineup in the face of Lionel Messi's one-match suspension for his fifth yellow card of the season in last month's win over Valencia.

In Messi's absence, Suarez led the line on his own, with Neymar fielded to the left and Andre Gomes starting on the right. Andres Iniesta was left to settle for a place on the bench.

Neymar was made to wait until the 91st minute for his late addition, but it was an important one:

Enrique was keen to push ahead with his 4-3-3 despite the absence of Messi, although Gomes appeared an odd fit to parade down the right flank, even with the assistance of right-back Sergi Roberto.

The visitors were forced into an unexpected change after 17 minutes, as Rafinha suffered an unspecified injury and was replaced by Alcacer, who slotted in on the right wing as Gomes moved more central.

Granada goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was all that stood between the hosts and a deficit for much of the first half, as evidenced by OptaJose:

Irrespective of their home status, Granada sat agonisingly deep in their own half for parts, a factor that helped the Blaugrana amass more than 70 percent of possession, per WhoScored.com, and allowed them to camp on the halfway line.

That setup welcomed the onslaught upon Ochoa, and even Barcelona's Twitter account paid tribute to the Mexico international's incredible double save from Suarez near the half-hour mark:

Ochoa's performance coupled with Granada's sheer numbers in defence almost saw the home side keep their clean sheet until the interval, but Suarez's 44th-minute intervention ensured their hopes were dashed.

Jordi Alba's lobbed ball straight from defence found its way to the Uruguayan, who was through to the Granada stopper, and Suarez chipped his side into a timely lead, via Sky Sports La Liga:

Granada manager Lucas Alcaraz made the decision to bring Chelsea loanee Jeremie Boga on at half-time, a call that was almost immediately justified after the 20-year-old took just four minutes to draw the hosts level.

Jeremy Mathieu's attempt to mark the lightning-quick Boga went horribly wrong, Saunier's searching through ball found the youngster to the right of Barca's goal, and he scythed his shot just inside the far post. As pointed out by Sky Sports Statto, the goal came from a rare foray forward:

The home outfit could only savour being level again for 14 minutes, however, as Suarez turned from scorer into architect, chipping over for Alcacer to volley home in space after the latter had bamboozled Granada's offside trap.

The low strike was Alcacer's fourth goal of the season after a slow start to life at the Camp Nou, although football writer Richard Martin highlighted this as the striker's first significant contribution:

Uche Agbo's evening was cut short in the 82nd minute after he picked up two cards in quick succession, and for all Granada's defensive stature in the first half, their back line fell to pieces not long after.

Neymar strolled through three defenders from the left before the ball squirmed its way to Ivan Rakitic, whose effort took a deflection off Saunier before nestling in the bottom-left corner, per Agence France Presse's Kieran Canning:

Granada looked like it could add a second through Boga, but a quick counter saw Alcacer spring free on the left, and he fizzed a ball across Ochoa's box for Neymar to net an easy tap-in.

Barca's victory may have come by grittier means than they intended, but Enrique and Co. will cherish another three-point haul, particularly since it came in the absence of the essential Messi.

The Catalan giants play host to fourth-placed Sevilla on Wednesday in what could prove to be a season-defining fixture, while Granada will look to move away from the base of the table when they travel to Deportivo La Coruna.

Post-Match Reaction

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On a night where Messi's absence was at times all too obvious for Barcelona, it was ultimately the quality of the Blaugrana's replacements that saw them power far ahead of their opponents.

Enrique was complimentary of those who came off the bench to steer Barca's win to the finish line, and the tactician praised those who contributed late on, and Alcacer in particular, per Spanish newspaper Marca:

"It's the squad that wins you titles. It's up to us to balance the injuries and suspensions against our fringe players. I'm very proud of Alcacer, I've been praising his attitude all season because he's always there for the team. He's been superb, he's been involved in two goals tonight—scoring one—and he's been a constant threat."

The manager then called it "disgusting news" that Rafinha had suffered another injury after only recently coming back from a serious knee injury before lauding his side for their late drive.

"These are difficult games, I have seen the team play very well, very professionally. The game was complicated with the equaliser coming in an isolated moment, but then we were able to find a way to win quickly and have earned a comfortable result that I'd say was fair."