Andres Iniesta admitted this week that Barcelona suffer from "Messi-dependence" and his view was painfully highlighted as the favourites laboured in the Champions League quarterfinal clash against Paris St Germain on Wednesday.
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Messi started on the bench at the Nou Camp after straining a hamstring in last week's 2-2 first leg draw in Paris and for the hour before his introduction, Barca produced a flat performance despite the best efforts of the home fans to rouse the players.
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Cesc Fabregas was deployed in Messi's roving forward role as he had been on Saturday when he scored a hat-trick against Real Mallorca in La Liga, but the Spaniard made little impact as passes went astray and possession was surrendered all to easily.
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A fired-up PSG side stuffed with expensive talent were an entirely different proposition to Mallorca and the Ligue 1 leaders came close to inflicting a first home defeat on Barca in the Champions League in 21 games since October 2009.
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When Messi replaced Fabregas in the 62nd minute, Barca were losing 1-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate thanks to Javier Pastore's breakaway goal five minutes after halftime.
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The mere sight of Messi warming up had already lifted the palpably nervous fans and when the Argentina international entered the fray, Barca were transformed.
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He was clearly short on fitness but it was his clever pass to David Villa with around 20 minutes left that allowed the Spain forward to feed his international team mate Pedro, who cracked a first-time shot past Salvatore Sirigu.
It's so sad to know they cannot perform without Lionel Messi. It is very bad of Barcelona. Real Madrid might trash them