Lionel Messi netted once each on either side of a Philippe Coutinho strike to fire Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Alaves on Saturday at Camp Nou.
Ernesto Valverde’s men dominated the proceedings as expected, but were frustrated by the visitors’ disciplined rearguard and as a result, had to wait till the 64th minute to break the deadlock. Messi, after having struck the woodwork in the first period, opened the scoring with a cheeky free-kick under the defensive wall.
Substitute Philippe Coutinho made it 2-0 in the 83rd minute with a trademark finish cutting in from the left-side, before Messi added the third, deep into stoppage time to add more gloss to the scoreline.
In the process, Messi achieved a unique feat, as he scored Barcelona’s 6,000th La Liga goal. The little magician had also scored the Catalans’ 5,000th Liga goal nine-and-a-half years ago. As expected, fans took to celebrating the genius of the Argentine forward;
https://twitter.com/lucasammr/status/1030940745069408256
February 2009 – Messi scores goal 5000 for Barcelona in La Liga.
August 2018 – Messi scores goal 6000 for Barcelona in La Liga.
1000 league goals in 9 years. Messi has scored 336 out of those. pic.twitter.com/PRxmWysGVx
— Footy Humour (@FootyHumour) August 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/TWEETORACLE/status/1030935408589328384
https://twitter.com/mattbolistic/status/1030939143038218240
Messi scoring La Liga's 6000th goal, as he drops another 10/10 performance. As if it was written in the stars. Simply, the greatest ever.
— ً (@meekcfc) August 18, 2018
This is Lionel Messi's world and we're just living in it.
(Unfortunately Higuain, the AFA, Bartomeu and Valverde too)
— sj (@sun2jay) August 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/ogbeni_opa/status/1030938274884464640
https://twitter.com/ExtraMessi/status/1030938750854021131
You know that scene in Infinity War when Thor shows up and just starts blasting aliens all over the battlefield? That's Messi. He's a god against mortals.
— Darryl (@LordMoloch) August 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/NaifFCB_/status/1030941658492354561
https://twitter.com/INFOSMESSl/status/1030943293780189184
Take away Messi's goals from today- even without them he was magical, his phenomenal pass, his style, his game reading is above everyone else. THE BEST IN THE HISTORY.
— Zoé ⭐⭐⭐ (@imaginiuss) August 18, 2018
It's really sad that we're so used to Messi's magic so we just can't appreciate it enough. And when we realise that, it might be too late.
— Ana🌻 (@blaugr__ana) August 18, 2018
Coutinho, left out of the starting line-up by Valverde, managed to make a great impact coming on in the second half. His goal killed off the game and ensured Barcelona’s title defence was off to a winning start.
https://twitter.com/TetoBarca_/status/1030936875953999872
https://twitter.com/BrazilEdition/status/1030937751640727552
https://twitter.com/finalthrd/status/1030936566989041665
https://twitter.com/Sameer_R13/status/1030937230305583104
How @Phil_Coutinho scores his goals#BarcaAlaves #LaLiga pic.twitter.com/lgLqIsAzSv
— Boo of the Booless🖤 (@endowedzion) August 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Coutskill3/status/1030940036613726208
Coutinho is about to have the best season ever Mark my words !
— ASVPXEDWIN (@edwinxwulf) August 18, 2018