After a summer of intense controversy, Luis Suarez was back on a football pitch last night as he made a brief debut for Barcelona in their 6-0 friendly win over Mexican club Leon.
Banned for four months by FIFA for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, Suarez was given permission to play in friendlies by the Court of Arbitration for Sport just last week.
That meant a Barca bow following his big money summer move from Liverpool, while the game also saw the return of Neymar, who made his first appearance since his World Cup was ended by a back injury in Brazil’s quarter-final win over Colombia.
Yet while those two garnered much of the attention, Lionel Messi wasted no time in serving a reminder that he is still the King of the Nou Camp by taking less than three minutes to open the scoring.
Having been granted an extended post-World Cup holiday, the Argentine was making his first and only appearance of the pre-season campaign in his team’s final warm-up game before their La Liga opener against Elche on Sunday.
It was Neymar who created the opener, crossing for Messi to nod home early on.
Neymar soon added a second, receiving a brilliant through ball from Andres Iniesta in full stride and easily converting a left-footed lob over the onrushing goalkeeper.
Barca continued to saunter through the game against poor opp-osition and their star duo combined for the third before the interval as Messi slotted through a pass for Neymar, who rounded the goalkeeper before converting into an empty net with a cheeky back heel.
Home debutant Ivan Rakitic provided a superb pass for Dani Alves to set up young substitute Munir El Haddadi for the fourth goal early in the second half, but the Nou Camp crowd were now waiting for the introduction of Suarez from the bench and duly got their wish with 15 minutes remaining.
The Uruguayan enjoyed a low key run out, while Munir continued to catch the eye, adding Barca’s fifth and his second. And the scoring was completed when midfielder Sergi Samper teed up Sandro to score.