Lionel Messi recovered from missing a penalty, to score twice as Barcelona beat Alaves 2-0. 
In doing so, he became the first player to pass 350 goals in La Liga.
The Argentine superstar had the chance to open scoring from 12 yards in the 39th minute, but his effort was saved by Fernando Pacheco.
However, 10 minutes after the break, Messi made no mistake with a deflected shot on 55 minutes to earn Barca an important victory on the road, netting his 350th goal from 384 games in the league.
Without new signing Ousmane Dembele, who completed the second most expensive transfer ever by moving for 105 million euros ($125 million) from Borussia Dortmund on Friday, or the injured Luis Suarez, Messi ensured Barca didn’t lose any early ground in the title race despite a tumultuous start to the campaign off the field.
The five-time World Player of the Year missed from the penalty spot for the 20th time in his career as Fernando Pacheco produced a stunning save midway through the first half.
Alaves shocked Barca a year ago by winning at the Camp Nou, and the hosts were left to rue a big chance missed by Ruben Sobrino at 0-0 before succumbing to Messi’s magic.
Sobrino burst past the leaden-footed Gerard Pique on the half-hour mark but placed his shot too close to Barca ‘keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen as he bore down on goal.
Pique was involved at the other end as Barca were awarded a penalty moments later when he was hauled to the ground by Rodrigo Ely at a Messi free-kick.
Messi’s record from the spot had improved greatly since he briefly quit international football after blasting a spot-kick over as Argentina lost the Copa America Centenario final to Chile little over a year ago.
However, Pacheco sprung to his right impressively to turn Messi’s effort round the post.
Visibly annoyed at himself, Messi responded with the opening goal 11 minutes after the break as his powerful low drive struck helpless Alaves defender Alexis to fly past Pacheco.
Alexis was also at fault when Barca doubled their advantage 11 minutes later as his poor clearance was headed by substitute Paco Alcacer into Messi’s path to smash home on his favoured left foot.
Messi could even have had a hat-trick as he saw another effort from the edge of the box hit the bar.
Yet, Barca were never threatened after the break by an Alaves side lacking in ambition and attacking prowess as the hosts comfortably saw out a second 2-0 win to begin their league season.
AFP