[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Lionel Messi scored on a free kick with four minutes remaining to give the defending champions a 2-1 win at Dynamo Kiev and a place in the round of 16 but he was later injured in a hard challenge from Kiev's Leandro Almeida and damaged his right ankle in an incident reminiscent to the injury that sidelined Cristiano Ronaldo of rival Real Madrid for two months earlier this fall.

Messi, recently crowned winner of the 2009 Golden Ball and the favorite for 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year honors, is doubtful for Sunday's "Derbi," the clash between Barca and city rival Espanyol.

Barca fell behind in the second minute and would have been eliminated if it had lost to Dynamo by two goals.

Xavi's goal in the 33rd minute had canceled out Artem Milevskiy's goal for the home team.

The win gave Barca first place in Group F ahead of Inter Milan.

"It was an important game today and all our players put in maximum effort to get the win," Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola said. "It was important to win the group and we were playing with that in mind. It was a physically tough game, but it's going to get even tougher from here."

WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS:
Group E
Liverpool 1 Fiorentina 2
Scorers: Benayoun 43; Jorgensen 63, Gilardino 90
Lyon 4 Debrecen 0
Scorers: Gomis 25, Bastos 45, Pjanic 59, Cissokho 76
Group F
Inter Milan 2 Rubin Kazan 0
Scorers: Eto'o 31, Balotelli 63
Dynamo Kiev 1 Barcelona 2
Scorers: Milevskiy 2; Xavi 33, Messi 86
Group G
VfB Stuttgart 3 Unirea Urziceni 1
Scorers: Marica 5, Traesch 8, Pogrebnyak 11; Semedo 46.
Sevilla 1 Rangers 0
Scorer: Kanoute 8 penalty.
Group H
Olympiakos 1 Arsenal 0
Scorer: Leonardo 47
Standard Liege 1 AZ  1
Scorers: Bolat 90+5; Lens 42