In Spain’s La Liga, Barcelona began life without Lionel Messi by beating Real Sociedad 4-2 in an entertaining opening match yesterday.
Gerard Pique opened the scoring for Barcelona with a powerful header from Memphis Depay’s free-kick.
Martin Braithwaite scored either side of half-time to become the first Danish player to score a La Liga brace.
Real Sociedad pulled it back to 3-2 through Julen Lobete and Mikel Oyarzabal but Sergi Roberto added a fourth for Barcelona in added time.
It was fitting that Barca’s first goal of the season was scored by Pique after the defender agreed to reduce his wages earlier in the week so that the club could register three new signings in time for the new season.
