Barcelona Take Positive Sensations Forward After Beating Celtic

Opinions are still split over Lionel Messi's bleached-blond hair and ginger beard, but nobody was left in much doubt over his motivation level after the first 45 minutes of Barcelona's game against Celtic on Saturday.

Messi cut his holidays short to return to work and looks motivated as he prepares for the new season.

He was digging through his playbook of arced through balls and whipped passes in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, sporting the captain's armband and looking nothing like the sunken, miserable figure he cut in an Argentina shirt in June.

Messi's missed penalty in the Copa America final shootout seemed like it might haunt him forever, and perhaps it will. Maybe his new image is a bid to separate himself as far from that moment as he possibly can.

Peter Morrison/Associated Press

Having retired from international football in the aftermath of that brutal blow in New Jersey, Argentina losing to Chile in the final on spot-kicks for the second year running, Messi needed to disconnect.

First he went to his hometown, Rosario, then the Bahamas and back to Europe, ending up in Ibiza. That was enough, and even though he had more time off allotted, like an addict who can't get enough even though football has hurt him, he travelled to England with his team to start training.

Whereas last season there were a lot of absences during pre-season, Messi started against Celtic alongside friend and strike partner Luis Suarez.

The impetus those two provided helped Barcelona get off to a quick, impressive start, beating a side that are much further ahead in their preparation for this season.

Celtic came quickly out of the blocks and nearly scored after 12 seconds, when Patrick Roberts whistled one inches wide. But after that, the Blaugrana took control.

Sergi Roberto pulled the strings from Sergio Busquets' pivote position, while Denis Suarez and Arda Turan helped build attacks with Messi as Suarez charged around like his life depended on it.

Peter Morrison/Associated Press

Their eventual 3-1 victory was deserved and could have been by a wider margin, with the first-half performance already looking like the sort of game they are aiming to hone ahead of the new campaign.

Barcelona enjoyed several positives, starting with the first goal, which was finely constructed. Denis span a ball out to the right for Aleix Vidal to run onto. His nutmeg and inviting pull-back for Turan was perfect, and the Turk finished brilliantly, curling the ball into the top right corner.

Denis shone on his first performance, wearing Xavi Hernandez's old No. 6 shirt, which Sport's Javier Miguel said fitted him like a glove.

He was Miguel's man of the match, even if the actual award went to left-back Juan Camara. He was impressive too, flying up and down the wing, forcing Efe Ambrose's own goal and playing an important part in Munir El Haddadi's strike.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Although the signing of Lucas Digne as competition for Jordi Alba will likely stop him from getting any game time when the season kicks off, it was a promising display.

The other full-back, Vidal, was the only Barcelona player to feature for 90 minutes.

"He's trying to improve his physical level gradually and Aleix was at a good level throughout the game," explained Luis Enrique, per Miguel.

Vidal fell out of favour with the coach last season, but a meeting between the pair resolved their differences, according to the same source, and it looks like the Asturian coach is giving him every chance to fight for a place in the team.

Roberto is expected to feature a lot at right-back this season, even though his natural position is in central midfield. Lucho exclaimed after the game how happy he was to have such a versatile and impressive player at his disposal, saying: "The truth is he has come back to play brilliantly. He's more than one player for us. Wherever he plays, he plays well. It's a delight for a coach to have a player of this level."

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Although the large number of central midfielders in the squad will be an impediment to the Reus-born 24-year-old featuring in his natural spot, this performance was the latest demonstration that he is an important player for the club and not the makeweight it looked like he was going to turn out to be.

Messi went off at half-time, and the game dissolved into mulch, as a spate of further substitutions from both sides broke up the flow, as is the way with these pre-season fixtures.

Although the results in friendlies don’t have much relevance, creating a winning dynamic is always positive, and a losing one can be harmful, as Chelsea showed last year. They didn’t manage to win a game and started extremely slowly in a disastrous campaign.

So Enrique will be pleased with their well-earned victory, pleased with how quickly his stars returned to a decent level and the speed at which they were stroking the ball around in the first half.

Messi’s first-half display, by his own standards, was merely OK, but most of his touches oozed class. One superb ball flung out to Camara on the left helped make Barcelona’s third goal.

Work will begin in earnest on Monday, when the bulk of the first team returns. Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba, all part of the Gala XI, are due to check in.

So too is Claudio Bravo while his rival to be Barcelona’s No. 1, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, has another week off. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he takes a leaf out of Messi’s book and comes back early, just as he did last season.

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

Only Neymar and Rafinha, who are with Brazil's Olympic Games team, will be turning up late.

Having a tour that is confined to Europe while rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid travel far overseas is also a wise move that should pay dividends as the fixtures gets underway, with all three sides expected to battle on three fronts, for La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.

They have also tied up loose ends such as Neymar's and Mascherano’s contracts and shifted some of the deadwood in the squad in a summer that is becoming increasingly pleasing. That's good after the bad taste left in the mouth following the final months of last season—even though they won a league-and-cup double—because of their failure in Europe and the dip in form that nearly threatened their chances of winning the title.

After a disappointing summer for many of their squad in terms of international football, bar Euro 2016 winner Andre Gomes, Copa America winner Bravo and Samuel Umtiti, who had an impressive tournament for France, players will be returning with clear heads and the motivation to prove a point.

And even though he truly has done everything he ever needed to over the years, that certainly looks to be the case for Messi.