Barcelona vs Dynamo Kiev: Messi surprisingly missing from UCL squad

Barcelona travelled to Ukraine on Monday with several names missing from their roster. Apart from an injury crisis that has hit the club, captain Lionel Messi was also surprisingly left out by manager Ronald Koeman. Despite having to call up youth players for the UEFA Champions League clash, the Catalan giants manufactured a convincing 0-4 victory against Dynamo Kiev.

There has been no news of an injury affecting the Argentine star, but he has been rested alongside Frenkie de Jong. It appears that Koeman decided to rest his captain, who had just returned from international duty with the Argentine national team. While Dynamo Kiev is not an opponent to be taken lightly, Barcelona had the luxury to rest key players after having won all three of their previous group stage matches.

Barcelona was also missing the services of injured players Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique.

Despite the massively depleted squad, Barcelona thrashed their opponents and booked their spot into the last 16.

Sergino Dest opened up the scoring before Martin Braithwaite scored a brace for Barcelona. Controversial French striker Antoine Griezmann made a late contribution to score Barca's fourth goal. Much has been said about the Frenchman's performance for the club, and it remains to be seen if his goal in the absence of Messi will affect their alleged "rift."

Last week, Griezmann and Messi made the headlines after the captain was accused by the Frenchman's former agent of being a dictator at the Camp Nou. The agent also said that it was Messi's "deplorable" treatment that has caused Griezmann to under-perform.

According to the BBC, the squad that travelled to Ukraine was Barca's youngest Champions League starting XI since December 2011. Nevertheless, they did not buckle despite the lack of experience.

Young guns Oscar Mingueza, Francisco Trincao, Junior Firpo and Carles Alena were all impressive on the pitch.