Suarez saves the day: Barcelona scores late to beat Bayer Leverkusen

Barcelona struggled early as it began life without Lionel Messi, but the goods arrived late in an eventual 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Back-to-back goals from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez in the last 10 minutes completed the comeback against a German side that smelled blood from the start.

"My players deserve a huge amount of credit for turning around a very difficult situation," manager Luis Enrique said afterwards.

Related: VIDEO - Suarez scores stunner as Barcelona overturns deficit with 2 goals in 2 minutes

It was a match between the wounded and the hungry: Barcelona also lost midfielder Andres Iniesta, while Leverkusen's attack did not let up.

Leverkusen, which conquered the beginning stages at Camp Nou, victimized Barcelona's left flank. That's where defender Jeremy Mathieu was deputising for Jordi Alba, who had only recently returned from his own injury. It was a clear area of weakness.

The Germans applied consistent pressure in the first 20 minutes, pressing high up the pitch and playing with the attacking spirit of a typical Bundesliga side.

And they earned their goal off a corner kick. Midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu delivered a tempting ball into the box that went without a punch from Barca 'keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. It was left for Leverkusen defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos, who duly took the invitation to head home the opening goal.

It looked like Messi was well and truly missed, as Leverkusen swarmed Barcelona. There was no rhythm, no real connection, between the front three. Sandro Ramirez made his first Champions League start in Messi's place, and there were obvious issues.

Things could have turned worse at the start of the second half. Javier Hernandez had a perfect opportunity to double the advantage when he streaked into the penalty area all alone. The ball arrived, and Hernandez, with a clear view of goal, sent it up and into the stands.

Barcelona, as if awakened by its own mortality, suddenly pushed forward. But just as the Blaugrana started to whip more shots at the Leverkusen net, they lost yet another player to injury.

Iniesta appeared to pull up with a right hamstring problem, and was forced off the pitch in the 57th minute.

That latest setback could have completely sapped Barcelona of its will. This is a team dealing with one of its worst injury crises in recent years, and down went its captain.

"The injury to Iniesta is terrible news," manager Luis Enrique said afterwards. "These are thorns in our side that we have to shake off."

But they showed great resilience. In the 80th minute, after a flurry of opportunity, Barcelona finally found the back of the net. Roberto jumped on a loose rebound and revitalised the crowd.

Just a minute later, substitute Munir set up Suarez in the penalty area, and the Uruguayan launched a perfect strike into the top corner.

The crowd erupted, and so did Enrique. Barcelona doesn't always grind out results at Camp Nou, and the win means so much more because of that.