Lionel Messi scores twice on "Xavi day" but Depor fight back vs. Barcelona to stay up

Deportivo La Coruña fought back from two goals down to seal the point they needed to stay in La Liga as Barcelona said goodbye to club legend Xavi Hernandez.

Lionel Messi had scored a goal in each half to manoeuvre Luis Enrique's side into a two-goal lead, but second half goals from Lucas Perez and Diogo Salomao ensured the small pocket of Depor fans in Camp Nou weren't having a reluctant farewell party of their own.

All the focus was on Xavi, though, as he ended his 505th and last league game in Barcelona colours lifting the 23rd title of his club career. He may yet have to more to lift as well — Barça still have finals to come against Athletic Club and Juventus in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League respectively.

Fans queued up for outside the ground to be snapped in a Xavi-themed photo booth, while a massive banner was released as the teams emerged, thanking the 35-year-old for his 17 years of service to the first team.

However, one of Xavi's reasons for leaving for Qatari club Al-Sadd is that he'd no longer feature in Enrique's first choice side. That's because Lucho's Barça focus on the front three more than the midfield three, namely Messi.

It took just five minutes for the Argentine to open the scoring here. He released Jeremy Mathieu down the left, with the ball eventually finding its way to Rafinha. The Brazilian wriggled to the byline and stood the ball up at the far post for Messi to head into an unguarded net.

Enrique had made eight changes from the side that beat Atletico Madrid last weekend. Only Messi, Neymar and Pedro remained. There was a debut for Thomas Vermaelen in the middle of defence and a start for Jordi Masip in goal.

Despite the changes, Depor, needing points to ensure their survival, failed to trouble the home side.

Messi had a goal disallowed for offside and was then denied by Fabricio, who showed cat-like reactions to sprawl across his goal and stop Pedro's rebound rippling the back of the net.

Eventually the second goal did come, but not until after the break. Neymar and Messi raced through together, the former suppling a tap in for the latter — it was Messi's 43rd league goal of an electric campaign, his 56th in all competitions.

That seemed to bring Depor to life. All of a sudden they realised they hadn't come to Xavi's goodbye party, they'd come to fight for their lives.

Lucas curled a peach into the top corner, leaving Masip little chances, and grabbed the ball, racing back towards the halfway line, targeting an equaliser. Given that had been the first goal Barça had conceded since Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the clasico in March, that seemed a little bit greedy.

It wasn't unrealistic, though. Barca had been retreating further and further back, an unfamiliar back-line struggling to deal with the Galician's renewed threat.

Haris Medunjanin had already seen two efforts blocked when Salomao cleverly poked the ball into the bottom corner, temporarily halting the Xavi chants which had filled the Camp Nou during the second half.

But they soon picked up where they left off, increasing the volume when Xavi was replaced by Andres Iniesta, the game ending with both sets of supporters having plenty to celebrate.