Three seasons without a treble is too long for Leo Messi
After leading Barcelona to victory in the Joan Gamper Trophy, Lionel Messi vowed to win the Champions League this season. And against Alavés in the La Liga season opener, the 32-year old Argentine maestro showed that he means business.
Messi showed more mobility than usual, taking advantage of Ousmane Dembélé’s positional transition to explore the right side and cut in with his magical left foot. He threaded through some brilliant balls for his teammates, getting into many scoring positions himself.
His free-kick was sublime, going under the wall into the bottom right corner. He seems to be carrying his free-kick accuracy from last season. Messi also came close with curlers from the edge of the box, and was unafraid to take the shot even when other players could be in better positions.
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Messi also pressured the defenders, and assumed a higher work rate. His second goal was a simple rolled finish into the bottom left corner after some brilliant dribbling. It seems as if his failed World Cup quest has spurred him on to do even greater things in club football.
After Messi’s performance against Alavés, it looks like Luis Suárez’s dramatic decline is not going to affect the side much, with Messi’s late blooming outdoing the negative impact of Suárez’s consistently poor performances.
Everything that Barcelona have done in the run up to the beginning of the season, as well as Messi’s performance in the La Liga season opener, suggests that the club is going for the treble this season.
When the second-greatest player of all-time means business, the opposition better look out, and especially Real Madrid.