A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona avoided an early scare to beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in Ukraine to advance to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League as winners of the surprisingly tightly-contested Group F.

Barca remain on course to become the first club to retain the title after goals from Xavi, making his 100th appearance in the competition, and Lionel Messi cancelled out Artem Milevskiy's early strike for Dynamo.

On a bitterly cold evening in the Lobanovsky Stadium in Kiev, the home side, who needed to win by two clear goals to advance to the knockout stage, took the lead after just two minutes.

Not a moment Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes will want to llok back on in a hurry as he allowed Milevskiy's deftest of touches from an Andriy Shevchenko free-kick to squirm under his body and into the net.

However, the reigning kings of Europe were soon at their mesmerising best as Xavi and Messi, the Catalan's dual fulcrum, started to dictate the tempo, probing and teasing the home side.

Barca soon had Kiev on the 'carousel', as Sir Alex Ferguson once described it, their passing and movement a joy to behold as they monopolized possession and just after the half-hour mark they were level.

A beautiful sweeping move saw Messi feed the ball out wide for left-back Eric Abidal to deliver a first time ball across the six-yard box for Xavi to slide home past the helpless Oleksandr Shovkovskiy. Poetry in motion.

La Blaugrana's dominance of the opening 45 minutes was summed up at the break with the stats showing that they had an incredible 78 per cent of possession.

The second half was to be even more one sided than the first as Dynamo's threat on the counter-attack petered away as they grew increasingly weary and frustrated at chasing shadows.

Xavi and Messi proving as illusive as they were in last season's UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United in the eternal city, weaving their spells in breathtaking fashion.

And it was fitting that the recently crowned Ballon d'Or winner and soon to be FIFA World Player of the Year would score the decisive goal, only after Gerard Pique had a goal ruled out for pushing by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Messi, who had been fouled repeatedly throughout and indeed limped off at full-time, hit a fabulous free-kick past Shovkovskiy and in off the underside of the bar to wrap up the three points and ensure Barca top Group F.

On this evidence, the rest of Europe beware!