Barcelona 6 Real Betis 2: New-look Lionel Messi pulls the strings as sublime Luis Suarez scores hat-trick
Argentine superstar ran the show as Catalan club stormed to opening weekend victory without Neymar
LIONEL MESSI proved blondes have more fun as Barcelona dominated an eight-goal thriller against Real Betis in La Liga.
The Argentine icon, sporting his new bleached barnet, scored a brace and set up one to kick-start Barca's season.
Luis Suarez scored a sublime hat-trick and Arda Turan got on the scoresheet, while Ruben Castro netted twice for the visitors.
Barca took just six minutes to send the message to Real and Atletico Madrid that they once again mean business this season.
Instigator Messi played a diagonal ball to Jordi Alba, who cut low to Turan in the box to flick in with the outside of his boot.
Castro wobbled the Catalans with a hammerblow of a free-kick which made it's way over the line despite Claudio Bravo's hand.
But Messi dragged Barca back ahead on 37 minutes, picking up league debutant Denis Suarez's ball and curling in a trademark shot from 25 yards.
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He then unpicked the Betis defence to play in Sergi Roberto, who pulled back for Suarez to bury from 15 yards out.
Luis Enrique's side were up and running ten minutes after the break, with Sergio Busquets leading a brilliant counter-attack. The midfielder broke away to the right allowing Messi to combine with Suarez, the Uruguayan hitting his second of the match.
And two minutes later Messi, a dictator in the match, drilled a low shot into the bottom corner from outside the box to complete the rout.
Suarez underlined his intention to challenge for this year's Ballon d'Or by completing his hat-trick in style. The ex-Liverpool striker curled a beauty of a free-kick in from 25 yards with nine minutes left of the match.
Castro lashed a right-footed shot past Manchester City-bound Bravo just three minutes later in what could be the earliest contender for game of the season ever.