Lionel Messi injury confirmed after early exit in Barcelona win over Villarreal

Lionel Messi lasted just 45 minutes on his return to Barcelona's starting lineup on Tuesday night, before being replaced with a fresh injury to worry boss Ernesto Valverde.

The Argentine superstar was crowned the world's best footballer by FIFA for a sixth time in Milan on Monday night.

And he duly started at Camp Nou against Villarreal on Tuesday evening - despite having only returned to Catalunya at 2am.

The 32 year-old has been a substitute in each of the Blaugrana's last two matches, against Borussia Dortmund and Granada respectively, as he continued his recovery from a calf problem.

But with the Spanish champions having failed to net in either of those encounters, he was recalled from the start for the La Liga showdown with Javi Calleja's men.

Messi started in attack with Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann, and teed up an early opener for the £108million Frenchman.

However, just after the 30 minute mark, Messi suffered an issue that saw him exit the field to undergo treatment.The issue wasn't the calf worry that has plagued his beginning to the campaign, but rather a thigh problem.