Whilst there has been some fair criticism of Barcelona's inability to build a Champions League-winning system around Lionel Messi as Real Madridhave taken an iron grip of the competition over the past three years, the Argentine is obsessed with the tournament from now on.

PSV Eindhoven were the visitors to the Camp Nou for the opening match in the 2018/19 edition and the Dutch champions were blown away by Messi's incredible individual display.

He opened the scoring with a sumptuous free kick in the first half, bringing to an end Hirving Lozano's early spell of dominance in the match.

It's been clear for a number of years that the La Masia graduate is desperate to win another Champions League, and there simply haven't been the players around him to do that.

Josep Maria Bartomeu looked to rectify that with Eric Abidal over the summer transfer window, with Arturo Vidal, Arthur, Clement Lenglet and Malcom all brought in to bolster the squad.

Whilst Vidal may seem like merely a minor upgrade on Paulinho, the other players have added depth to Ernesto Valverde's squad.

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have battled each other for years in the Champions League and the Barcelona icon has started his campaign off in the perfect possible manner, with Ronaldo waiting to make his first European appearance for Juventus against Valencia on Wednesday.

Never before has a player scored eight hat-tricks in the Champions League, yet the forward achieved just that on Tuesday evening, breaking the tie with Ronaldo.

The start of the 2017/18 season was impressive for the Argentine international as he found the net regularly, and he's raced ahead this term in a similar manner.

Over the course of six matches he's played in he's managed to score seven goals, a streak which has helped catapult the Blaugrana to the top of the LaLiga Santander table.

As Messi said at the start of the season, he wants the Champions League this year too, and he couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

source:  http://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2018/09/19/5ba17e4f46163f62048b4677.html