Once again, Barcelona were indebted to Lionel Messi for rescuing victory from the jaws of what would have been an underwhelming draw against Alaves.

The Basque outfit took a surprise lead through John Guidetti in the 23rd minute, before Luis Suarez's strike took a touch off Gerard Pique on the way in.

With just six minutes of normal time remaining, Messi's perfectly-elevated free-kick ensured the league-leaders maintained their 11-point lead at the summit.

On paper, it may have looked like another routine victory for the Blaugrana, with their two top scorers chipping in with the goals.

However, the South American duo were navigating a different kind of attack, playing alongside Philippe Coutinho.

The Brazilian was starting for his new club for the first time, staying on the pitch for 66 minutes, eventually to be replaced by Paco Alcácer.

Having made a cameo appearance as a substitute in the derby against Espanyol, this was Barca fans' first chance to get a proper glimpse of their new £142million signing.

COUTINHO ON THE RIGHT

Employed on the right, perhaps so that he could be accommodated in the same XI as Andres Iniesta, his positioning was the source of most of his woes on the night.

While he has operated there for Brazil, something just didn't seem to quite click. Of course, there is no denying the playmaker's quality and it would be foolish to judge him too harshly by his full debut.

This is a league that he hasn't played in since his time on loan to Espanyol in 2012, so he will need some time to adapt.

As his highlights show, he seemed to spend plenty of time attempting to steer the play into more central areas.

Take a look at how he got on:

As the game went on, he did start to look a little more comfortable on the ball.

There were a couple of moments when he linked up intuitively with Luis Suarez, a partnership that will no doubt become painful viewing for Liverpool fans at some stage.

A clip of one moment started doing the rounds that summed up what was a frustrating evening for the superstar:

So, it's fair to say this wasn't Coutinho's finest hour. Ernesto Valverde will be demanding more of his record signing for Barcelona's next outing against Valencia on Thursday.

Where should Barcelona play Coutinho? Have your say in the comments.