Ernesto Valverde: "Genius" Lionel Messi still surprises me

Ernesto Valverde has described Lionel Messi as a "genius" and admits that he is still blown away by the Barcelona forward's brilliance.

Messi struck twice for the Catalan giants as they saw off Alaves 3-0 at Camp Nou in their opening La Liga game of the season on Saturday evening.

The Argentina international's latest double, including a smart free kick under the opposition wall, brought up a milestone 6,000th top-flight goal for Barca - 385 of which he is responsible for.

Speaking after the opening-day victory against a stubborn Alaves, Valverde told reporters: "Messi is a genius. We're lucky to be able to see him every day. We're lucky to be involved in football during the era in which he is playing - we want him to pull a rabbit from the hat every day.

"There's still room for Messi to surprise us. He always surprises you - he never ceases to amaze me, honestly. You have to be ready to expect anything from Messi because he sees what no one else sees."

Messi has been named Barcelona captain for the 2018-19 season following Andres Iniesta's move to Japan.