Oh how Messi wants to win the Champions League!

Lionel Messi wants to win the Champions League this season. Oh, how he wants it! He already said as much in his first speech as Barcelona captain. It's the team's objective. Because the Argentine star is tired of seeing the European Cup escape year after year. Just one title in the last seven years is not enough for the best player in the world. And the exit at the hands of Roma last year did a lot of damage. So much that he's signing up himself to change history. And to lift the Champions League again. Because he wants to life it, as captain, at the Wanda Metropolitano. That's his desire. His dream. His mission. It's, almost, his obsession. 

On Tuesday, Messi took the first step. With a brilliant goal from a free kick (which could not have been better placed) that brought Camp Nou to its feet (fuller than expected given the early kick off) and a hat-trick which led Barça to victory over PSV. It was a tough victory, too, despite the score (4-0), because Van Bommel's PSV played bravely. They pressed the Barça defence at times (the defence has been too fragile so far this season), but lacked the effectiveness in the final third. It's proof that this will be a tough group. Very tough. It will not be easy to win it. 

Messi's brilliant goal (that's now 14 seasons scoring in the Champions League in a row, a number only matched by ex-Madrid forward Raul) paved the way to the win and the first three points in Europe this season. And it showed that Messi is ready to live up to his word: this European Cup cannot escape. The Barça fans (among them my friend Manel, who my wide has always accused of being a jinx but in the end was the talisman) know it. Because they see it. And they enjoy it. On Tuesday, with a hat-trick, plus Ousmane Dembele's brilliant solo effort. More could not have been asked of Barça's Champions League debut.