Barcelona's goalless draw with Slavia Prague was exactly as underwhelming as it sounds.This was Valverde-ball at its peak; more than 3x the attempts mustered by the Czech side, but nothing all that tangible to show for it and ultimately, no memories made. As ever, the Blaugrana's beleaguered coach sat unmoved, hoping for a moment of individual brilliance from Lionel Messi. It nearly materialised 35 minutes in. The Argentine took the ball from about 40 yards out, dribbled, and began to cut inside the Slavia Prague defence.Antoine Griezmann was to his left, but head down, Messi went for goal and was only denied by the upright.

That was as close as the hosts got to a breakthrough. There are some nights when even their talisman is unable to see them over the line and this was one of them. 

As a result, Messi failed to record a goal or assist for the first time in a Champions League game that he's featured in at Camp Nou since 2012, per BBC Sport. 

That's seven years since he last drew a blank on December 5, 2012 against Benfica.  

In his defence, on that night, he was carried off on a stretcher. 

Since then, he's scored a remarkable 37 goals, including three hat-tricks.

He remains 14 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League top scorers list, though it's not inconceivable that he could break that in the next few seasons should his Portuguese rival suffer a drought.

Last night's stalemate is also the first time the forward hasn't scored in two home European games in a row since March/April 2015 when both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain kept him out. 

Of course, Barcelona remain in a healthy position at the top of Group F on eight points.

In the grand scheme of things, a draw against a team they should cruise past is not ideal, but it should not be such a cause for concern.  

However, coming just days after the 3-1 loss to Levante, alarm bells are ringing louder than ever.