Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino has admitted that the Catalan giants will always miss a player of Lionel Messi's calibre in light of their 2-1 victory over Villarreal.

The Blaugrana narrowly edged out the Yellow Submarine at Camp Nou on Saturday, with Brazil forward Neymar continuing to shine in the Argentine striker's absence by scoring a brace to bring his haul to five goals in two games following his hat-trick against Celtic on Wednesday.

"Losing or winning, we always miss Messi. He's the best player in the world. With him, we would have played even better today," Martino told reporters after the match.

The 26-year-old Messi is not expected to return from injury until early 2014.