Who's the daddy? Benched Messi makes his mark to bail out Barca again

Lionel Messi has done it again. Surprisingly left on the bench after the birth of his second son on Friday, Barcelona's brilliant Argentine came on to do what he does best as he pulled out a goal and a vital victory for Luis Enrique's side.

It was anything but easy. Without Claudio Bravo, Dani Alves and Gerard Pique in their starting line-up and missing Messi as well from the outset, Barca were the better team in the first half but were unable to make it count.

Luis Suarez hit the bar from close range, while Fernando Torres blasted over at the end. Barca also saw two penalty appeals turned down as referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz deemed handballs in the Atleti area not to be deliberate.

Torres then raced away to give the Rojiblancos the lead early in the second half, but Neymar levelled with a fantastic free-kick and moments later, Messi came on for Ivan Rakitic. The momentum was very much with Barca.

Luis Enrique's men continued to dominate and Messi made the difference with a fine finish after 77 minutes to bail out Barca and save his coach some complicated questions after the match.

The last time Messi was left on the bench by Luis Enrique was in January against Real Sociedad. Barcelona lost that match at Anoeta and it later emerged the two had argued in a training session. The situation was at boiling point and Luis Enrique's future looked in serious doubt.

Instead of a fall-out, however, Barca went from strength to strength and produced their finest football over the next weeks and months of the season. After failing to convince before Christmas, the team was unified and went on to win a treble of Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League titles as they swept aside all of their rivals in the second half of the campaign.

Luis Enrique learnt a lesson, though. He may be the coach, but Messi does not take too kindly to being left on the bench and so Saturday's decision to start without the Argentine attacker was still surprising - even though it would appear normal for any other player to be left out in such circumstances.

"Messi is so important to us," the Barca coach said afterwards. "It was better not to risk him. We want to take care of him; we want him in the best possible condition."

That is understandable, especially with a tough trip to Roma ahead in the Champions League on Wednesday. Presumably this time, however, the decision was discussed between coach and player prior to the match in order to avoid a repeat of the tensions from January.

Whatever was said, there was a happy ending on this occasion. Barca fans were frustrated at the decisions of referee Mateu, but Messi came on to dedicate his goal to new-born son Mateo.

And without several key players, this was an important win. Barca missed the height and physique of Pique, who is still suspended, while Thomas Vermaelen limped off after a bright start. Down to the bare bones and unable to field new signings until their transfer ban is over in January, the champions are coping any way they can at the moment.

Three league games in, the Catalans have won them all to top La Liga with maximum points, but have triumphed in each of their games by a single goal: 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao, 1-0 at home to Malaga and now 2-1 at Atletico.

This was another tough test against an extremely strong side and even though Atletico took the lead, Barca deserved the three points in the end.

"We played an enormous game against a direct rival," Luis Enrique said. "We have a difficult calendar and there is a long way to go, but we dominated both phases of the game and we turned it around when it was looking at its most difficult."

And although Neymar kicked off the comeback, the ultimate inspiration arrived from a familiar source: Messi. The Argentine has now netted 20 Liga goals against Atleti - more than against anyone else - and can celebrate the birth of his son with another match-winning performance to save the day for the Blaugrana.