Lionel Messi was at the top of his game for Barcelona on Wednesday night.

The Argentine superstar was chomping at the bit to return to action after seeing out his two-match suspension for being sent off in the Spanish Super Cup defeat to Athletic Bilbao.

Messi failed to keep his composure deep into extra time, lashing out at Asier Villalibre to pick up his first red card for Barcelona in more than 700 matches. 

Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona

And clearly the 33-year-old took his anger out on Rayo Vallecano when he returned in the Copa del Rey this week, helping to inspire the Blaugrana to a 2-1 win victory Estadio de Vallecas.

With Barcelona miles off the pace in La Liga and with an infamously shocking recent record in the Champions League, it's their most realistic opportunity to end their silverware drought.

But with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid having already ducked out of the competition, it couldn't be clearer that Spain's major cup tournament makes for a difficult passage.

Messi firing on all cylinders

And Barcelona were all-too-aware of that on Wednesday evening as they entered the final 30 minutes trailing 1-0 courtesy of Fran Garcia's opening strike.

However, it was Messi himself who pulled Barcelona back into the game, tapping home at the far post in the 69th minute and helping gather momentum for Frenkie de Jong's eventual winner.

So, all in all, it was a pretty impressive day at the office for Barcelona's star man, but there could have been a cherry on the cake deep into stoppage time.

Messi almost scores wonder goal

That's because Messi almost scored what would likely go down as one of the best goals of his career or at the very least, one of the most humiliating for his opponents.

Having been played clean through on goal by Pedri, Messi rounded the goalkeeper as though it was nothing, before dribbling past one of the defenders guarded the goal with similar ease.

Sadly, there wasn't the finishing touch that Messi's astonishing composure deserves, but it still makes for an admirably badass moment from the Barcelona genius - check it out down below:

There's nothing showier than a player proceeding to dribble past defenders when they've already sent the goalkeeper to the shops.

Copa del Rey glory for Messi?

Some of our favourite examples come in the form of Mohamed Salah at Bournemouth or Mesut Ozil against Ludogorets, but Messi's effort might well have taken the cake if he had found the net.

Either way, though, Messi probably knew at that stage that Barcelona were safely through to the next round and their hopes of silverware in 2020/21 are still alive and kicking. 

Besides, with speculation that Messi could leave in the summer still swirling around, the Barcelona legend must be keen to end his time in Catalonia on the high note of silverware that it deserves.