The Catalan giants lost 1-0 at home to Malaga last time out in the league, before picking up a 2-1 win in the first leg of their last 16 clash at the Etihad Stadium.
Messi missed a golden opportunity to effectively put that tie to bed when he saw a stoppage-time penalty saved by goalkeeper Joe Hart, before heading the rebound wide of an open goal.
However, Luis Suarez has backed his team-mate to bounce back when Barca take on struggling Granada on Saturday, insisting: "Leo knows how to deal with these situations."
Sevilla are eight points adrift of Diego Simeone's men and five short of fourth-placed Valencia, who are at home to Real Sociedad.
At the other end of the table, basement club Cordoba's descent to the second tier shows no signs of slowing down following five consecutive defeats.
Eibar's recent form matches that of bottom club Cordoba, so a win at home to Athletic Bilbao would be welcome, while Malaga look to follow up their win against Barca at home to Getafe.
