LIONEL MESSI once again watched from the sidelines and Barcelona’s attack struggled without him as the Spanish side drew 1-1 at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday despite dominating for large periods of the match.

The result nevertheless meant Barcelona became the first side to secure qualification for the knockout.

With voting for the 2018 Ballon d’Or closing this week, Antoine Griezmann boosted his chances of lifting the most prestigious individual trophy in soccer with an inspired display and a goal in his 50th Champions League game Tuesday.

Griezmann helped Atletico Madrid bounce back from a heavy loss to Borussia Dortmund with a 2-0 win over the German club, a result that sent last year’s semifinalist Monaco crashing out.

Griezmann, who has scored 10 goals in his last 10 home matches in the tournament, was set up by midfielder Thomas Partey and concluded the smooth counterattack with a soft touch from inside the area in the 80th minute after Saul Niguez had put the hosts ahead.

Liverpool was handed a 2-0 shock loss at Red Star Belgrade. Red Star’s victory left Group C wide open after Napoli was held to a 1-1 home draw by Paris Saint-Germain, with all four teams still in contention in a very tight pool.

Messi had traveled with the team to Milan but Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde opted not to risk the star forward, who hasn’t played since fracturing his arm last month. The visitors still nearly managed to win the match when substitute Malcom netted with seven minutes remaining, moments after coming off the bench. But Inter has made a habit of scoring late goals and did so again as Mauro Icardi leveled in the 87th.

Barcelona could have won Group B with a victory at San Siro but a combination of wayward finishing and fine saves by Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic means it will have to wait until the final two group matches.

“We had a great game,” Valverde said. “We played very well. We didn’t win but we qualified. So I leave Milan happy.”

Barcelona remained top of the group, three points ahead of Inter and six ahead of Tottenham which beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1.

“It’s a good point,” Icardi said. “The message from this match is that we want to qualify from the group, we wanted to take points from this match knowing that now we have two difficult matches.”

Inter plays Tottenham next. It managed a late come-from-behind victory at home in its Champions League opener, with Icardi leveling five minutes from time and Matias Vecino netting a stoppage-time winner.

“Let’s hope the same thing happens that happened at San Siro,” Icardi added with a laugh.

Messi injured his arm in a Spanish league match against Sevilla on Oct. 20 and missed the 2-0 victory over Inter in the last round.  (SD-Agencies)