Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde was delighted with Lionel Messi's performance for the rout of Espanyol.

Messi was the star of the show with a hat-trick and Valverde sat back and enjoyed seeing his No.10 doing what he does best.

"I'm happy for Leo who scored three goals and is extraordinary," he noted.

Ousmane Dembele made his debut and capped it with a classy assist to Luis Suarez.

"The idea is to give Dembele minutes, we have a lot of hopes for him and this game was a first step," he said.

"His teammates know that he has real quality."