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A party-popping Messi pass and a Suárez rocket that has to be seen to be believed, FC Barcelona start its new year with a bang
Lionel Messi continues to dazzle in La Liga.
The FC Barcelona forward scored and produced an other-worldly pass during a 2-1 victory over Getafe on Sunday.
It was Barça's first game in 15 days but the Spanish giant showed no signs of a new year's hangover as it played so well it remains the team to beat in Europe.
Messi was not the only soccer master as an incredible 20-yard volley from Luis Suárez helped seal a stunning win.
Barcelona is next in action on Thursday.
Read all of Business Insider's coverage for the 2018-2019 European soccer season right here.
FC Barcelona began the new year with a bang after extraordinary play from Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez helped the team retain its dominance over the Spanish soccer league.
Barça defeated Getafe by a 2-1 score in its first match of 2019 on Sunday, following a 15-day winter break from La Liga duty.
The team allayed any fears of a new year hangover from the off, as a party-popping pass from Lionel Messi and an other-worldly rocket from Luis Suárez ensured Barcelona remained the team to beat in Europe.
It all began in the 20th minute, when an unrelenting Messi charged through the penalty box to score Barcelona's first goal at a close range from an acute angle.
Three minutes later, the 31-year-old was the talk of social media when he unleashed a pass that few players could ever pull off.
Under pressure from an incoming slide tackle, Messi managed to bamboozle the Getafe defence by dragging a pass away from their runs and into the box, which caught the attention of his attacking team-mate Suárez.
In the end, the angle was too tight for the Uruguayan hitman to double Barcelona's lead, but the pass was praised for it's alien-like qualities on Twitter.
The social media account of the wildly-popular Mundial magazine said: "F------ HELL, Lionel you talented little alien boy."
Eleven Sports, the rights-holder in the United Kingdom, tweeted a clip of the pass, alongside an alien emoji.
Watch it here:
https://twitter.com/ElevenSports_UK/status/1082008799035224064?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
It took Suárez just six extra minutes to find his scoring boots, and boy was it worth the wait as his 39th minute strike was an absolute rocket.
The striker, awaiting the ball like a predator just outside the penalty box, took half a step back when he realised a clearance was coming his way.
And that instinct was all it took to tee up an incredible 20-yard volley that will be replayed for weeks.
Watch it below:
https://twitter.com/ElevenSports_UK/status/1082011217068285952?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://twitter.com/LaLigaEN/status/1082016197661679617?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Jaime Mata pulled one goal back for Getafe two minutes before the break, but Barcelona was able to see out its 2-1 victory in a win that sees the team go five points clear at the top of the La Liga table, at the near mid-point of the Spanish season.
Barcelona contests the first leg of its Round of 16 clash against Levante in the Copa del Rey on Thursday, January 10, three days before its next La Liga game on Sunday against Eibar.
Messi, meanwhile, remains the most stastistically-impressive soccer player on the planet, according to Whoscored.com data.
