Lionel Messi Suffers Apparent Injury as Barcelona Top Villarreal 2-1 in La Liga

Lionel Messi was substituted at half time amid fresh injury fears on Tuesday, as Barcelona got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory against Villarreal in La Liga at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona flew out of the traps, with Messi's corner flicked home by Antoine Griezmann to give the hosts the lead in the sixth minute. Arthur Melo doubled their advantage after just 15 minutes with a fantastic strike from distance.

Villarreal were able to find a way back into the game in the 44th minute, as Santi Cazorla smashed home a swirling long-range effort.

Messi was replaced by Ousmane Dembele at half time, having received treatment on a knock for a prolonged period before the break.

The win for Barcelona moves them on to 10 points from their six La Liga games, a point behind joint leaders Granada, Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.

After a dreadful showing in the 2-0 loss at Granada on Saturday, Barcelona needed to get off to a strong start in this encounter. Messi and Griezmann were able to combine to put them in the lead before Villarreal had a chance to settle.

The visitors would have been disappointed with their defending, as the France international had far too much room to glance home a header:

With the Camp Nou alive, Barcelona seized on that early momentum and pinned their opponents back for long spells of the opening exchanges. Another moment of quality saw them extend their lead.

Arthur was allowed time to get his head up when he was 30 yards from goal and thudded a tremendous shot past Sergio Asenjo:

Just when Barcelona thought they were coasting to victory, Messi went down with an injury and received lengthy treatment. He was able to continue, but didn't appear to be completely at ease for the remainder of the half.

Villarreal found a way to capitalise, with Cazorla matching Arthur's effort a minute before half time, lashing a swerving strike out of the reach of Marc-Andre ter Stegen:

When Messi didn't emerge for the second half there would have been some concerns among the Barcelona fans, with Dembele, also making a return from injury, called to replace him.

Samuel Marsden of ESPN FC provided more details:

After the break, Barcelona struggled to get back into their stride and the better chances actually fell to the visitors. Ter Stegen needed to be alert to keep out efforts from both Cazorla and Moi Gomez to keep his team's lead intact.

Blaugrana manager Ernesto Valverde turned to 16-year-old Ansu Fati to add something different to the attack in the final stages, with Luis Suarez unhappy at being withdrawn:

Despite a flurry of late pressure for the visitors, Barcelona were able to hang on for a much-needed victory, with Fati a dynamic threat on the counter.

While Barcelona supporters will be pleased with the team's win, there were areas of the display that would have left many concerned. Once again, the team toiled without Messi pulling the strings and another absence for him would be a massive worry.