MADRID, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona striker Leo Messi may have had a disappointing World Cup but any doubts that form would be carried over into the Spanish domestic season were dispelled in Barca's first Liga Santander match of the campaign.
Messi scored a brilliant free kick just after the hour to give Barca the lead against a brave Deportivo Alaves and after Phillipe Coutinho had doubled Barca's lead, he rounded off the scoring in a 3-0 win with another trademark goal in injury time to show that it's business as usual for Barca.
Speaking after the game in the early hours of Sunday morning, Barca boss, Ernesto Valverde admitted that having Messi in his side was a luxury for him.
"We are so fortunate to be living in the time when Leo Messi is playing. It's a pleasure to have him playing for us, he never fails to surprise," said Valverde.
The coach admitted his side had been "patient," to seal the win; "although we were close to scoring, we could sense how difficult it was getting. They (Alaves) defended very well out there, they were very compact. We were lacking a bit of rhythm early on but then we started getting more chances and finally opened the scoring."
"When Alavés started opening up more, we were able to kill off the game," explained Valverde, who considered that "as the minutes went by, we got better and better."
Barcelona midfielders, Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets added their voices to Valverde's praise of Messi, with Rakitic explaining the game had been "quite hard, until Messi appeared with his work of art," while Busquets commented that "Leo makes the difference all the time. He hits perfection every year. We'll never see another like him," said the Spain international.
