RACING 1
Zigic (56)

BARCELONA 2
Messi (65, 80)

COMETH the hour, cometh the man, even if he only stands at 1.69m tall.

However, as Lionel Messi warmed up to come on as a substitute for Barcelona this morning against Racing Santander, one could just feel something special was coming up.

At 1-0 down, Messi came on and, true enough, scored twice to inspire nine-man Barcelona to come from behind to beat Racing 2-1 at El Sardinero.

The runaway Primera Liga leaders appeared to be in trouble when Nikola Zigic put the Cantabrians ahead from the penalty spot early in the second half.

But Pep Guardiola had an ace up his sleeve on the bench, and turned to Messi in his moment of need.

And the Argentina forward proved his class once again, turning the game on its head with two well-taken goals.

However, the late dismissals of Rafa Marquez and Gerard Pique did take some of the gloss off the result after both players were given their marching orders for second bookable offences in the closing stages.

Scrappy affair

The first half was a scrappy affair littered with countless free-kicks in the middle of the park and Racing seemed quite content to allow the visitors most of the early possession.

It was a ploy that almost proved costly in the opening few minutes when Thierry Henry was played in behind Juan Valera as he raced down the left.

His early ball across the six-yard box for Samuel Eto'o looked dangerous but Cesar Navas showed great initiative to slide in and hook the ball away from the striker and out for a corner.

Racing survived that early scare and could have taken the lead on 12 minutes, but Jonathan Pereira was denied by the woodwork when he sneaked a shot inside Victor Valdes at his near post when the Barca goalkeeper was expecting a pass across goal.

Zigic then became a focal point for the action as the half wore on with Racing winning a succession of set-piece opportunities to exploit his aerial threat.

Sergio Busquets was the man assigned to mark the big Serbian and he was lucky not to concede a penalty when he was caught with his arms all over Zigic at a corner.

The Racing players appealed vehemently for the decision but their protests fell on deaf ears.

However, there was no such confusion nine minutes into the second period when Pereira tumbled under a challenge by Marquez.

The Mexican got his timing all wrong and referee David Borbalan pointed straight to the spot with Zigic sending Valdes the wrong way with a coolly-taken spot-kick.

Leading light

That was the cue for Guardiola to summon his leading light, although Messi's arrival was delayed while Toni Moral was stretchered off the field following a crunching tackle from Dani Alves in which the defender appeared to sustain a serious injury.

Messi was immediately involved in the action following his introduction and he bagged the equaliser within six minutes of entering the play.

A cross from Henry was met with a firm header by Xavi and the ball cannoned back off the crossbar into the path of the Argentinian who slotted home right-footed from four metres.

If his first goal was simple in its execution, his second was sublime.

A mis-hit clearance dropped out of the sky and Messi took the ball on his chest, showing great strength to shrug off the challenge provided by Oriol Lozano before he unleashed an unstoppable volley into the far corner beyond the despairing dive of Tono. -- PA Sport.

Primera Liga scores

ATL MADRID 1
Garcia Calvo (54 og)
VALLADOLID 2
Prieto (50), Victor (79 pen)

ESPANYOL 1
Pareja (62)
RECREATIVO 1
Ruben (90pen)

REAL BETIS 2
Juanma (8), Gonzalez (10)
GETAFE 2
Uche (64, 71)

OSASUNA 1
Pandiani (3)
REAL MALLORCA 0

DEPORTIVO 3
Lafita (2, 62), Riki (68)
VILLARREAL 0

VALENCIA 3
Joaquin (6), Villa (30 pen, 61)

ALMERIA 2
Negredo (22, 64)

SPORTING GIJON 1
Castro Gimenez (17)
SEVILLA 0