Barcelona 3 Alaves 0: Messi and Coutinho show their class as Barca stroll to simple win

La Liga champions begin new campaign with a routine victory over Alaves at the Nou Camp thanks to three splendid goals, two from Lionel Messi and one from Philippe Coutinho
LIONEL MESSI scored Barcelona’s 6,000th La Liga goal with a wonderful free-kick as the reigning La Liga champions saw off Alaves at the Nou Camp.
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL It took just over an hour before the deadlock was broken by the Argentine, who saw another free-kick crash against the crossbar just before half-time.
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Philippe Coutinho added a second late on to secure the three points with a fine, individual effort before Messi grabbed himself a second in the dying seconds.
It was not a vintage Barcelona performance but a simple enough victory to kick-start their campaign for a fourth league title in five years.
It was a quiet opening 35 minutes at the Nou Camp as Ernesto Valverde’s side struggled to find their usual fluency on what was a very wet pitch.
Messi had the game’s first chance after just three minutes as he latched on to Ivan Rakitic’s ball over the top of the Alaves defence but the Argentine dragged his right-footed shot wide.