Lionel Messi in action on Wednesday

London: Lionel Messi scored two late goals to give Barcelona a 2-1 victory at Shakhtar Donestsk and AS Roma also avoided a shock defeat in the Champions League by rallying to win 3-1 at Bordeaux (as briefly reported in Thursday’s Late City edition).

Things were more straightforward for Atletico Madrid, who beat Marseille 2-1.

Shakhtar looked set to embarrass two-time European Champion Barcelona when Ilsinho scored in the 45th minute, but Messi struck in the 87th and then deep into injury time to take his team clear at the top of the group C standings.

Roma had trailed to an 18th-minute goal by midfielder Yoann Gourcuff, who is on loan from Roma’s Italian rivals AC Milan. But the French team had to play with 10 men after Brazilian defender Henrique was sent off in the 36th, and conceded in the second half to Mirko Vucinic and twice to Julio Baptista.

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen drew 1-1 at Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon beat FC Basel 1-0, and Anorthosis Famagusta beat Panathinaikos 3-1.

Barcelona had beaten Sporting 3-1 in their opening match two weeks ago but struggled to break down a stubborn home defense in Ukraine. Shakhtar had already troubled Barcelona when visiting defender Gerard Pique struggled to control a long up-field pass. Pique glanced the ball to Ilsinho, who held off a challenge by Carles Puyol and flicked it past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Barcelona laboured until Messi took over with three minutes of regular time left. The Argentina forward made it 1-1 when goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov failed to deal with a right-wing cross and then won the match with a finely judged chip. Messi’s late show moved Barcelona to six points, three more than Shakhtar and Sporting Lisbon, which beat Basel through second-half goals by Leandro Romagnoli and Derlei.

Roma trailed early in France when Gourcuff twisted past his marker on the edge of the penalty area and hit a low, swerving shot past goalkeeper Alexander Doni and into the bottom left corner.

But Roma took over in the second half and exposed goalkeeper Mathieu Valverde’s lack of experience. Valverde, who had played just eight league games in five years, came to collect Daniele de Rossi’s 64th-minute corner and missed the ball, allowing Vucinic a free header into the top corner. He then stood rooted to the spot as Baptista’s free-kick flew into the net in the 71st.

Substitute Baptista then made it 3-1 in the 83rd as Roma moved to within a point of Chelsea and Cluj in Group A. Chelsea and Cluj, who just six years ago was in the third tier of Romanian football, each have four points.

Inter were seemingly spurred by their first loss of the season in Sunday’s derby against rivals AC Milan and dominated Werder Bremen without converting their play into goals. (AP)