You can tell Lionel Messi means business – he’s shaved his beard off.
The Argentine striker bagged a hat-trick against PSV midweek and now is gearing up for the match up with Girona.
But he’s doing it with a new sleek style after shedding the beard he’s been sporting since the historic Barcelona treble of 2015.
But many are hoping a clean shaven Messi can return the Nou Camp side to the pinnacle they were at when he was last as smooth as the proverbial.
One bullish fan tweeted: "Messi shaved his beard, the king ain’t messing around, the UCL is returning to Barça."
Messi the magic man makes the "extraordinary seem routine" according to coach Ernesto Valverde after his eighth Champions League hat-trick to sink PSV.
Messi moved ahead of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally of trebles in the competition after paving the way for a 4-0 win with a stunning 32nd-minute free-kick.
The Argentinian scored twice more after Ousmane Dembele had got his name on the scoresheet with a brilliant solo strike, prompting Valverde to sing Messi’s praises in the post-match press conference.
Valverde said: "He does extraordinary things and makes them seem routine.
"Today it was three goals, and he unlocked the match with his free-kick. The strike was masterful and he simply doesn’t tire of scoring hat-tricks."
Valverde was pleased with the way his players responded after their gruelling weekend win over Real Sociedad, but he acknowledged it was far from easy until Messi broke the deadlock.
"I’m satisfied with the 4-0, it’s a normal result (when you look at how the match progressed)," added Valverde.
"They played well on the counter-attack and we knew it would be difficult to get the first goal.
"After the second goal we were calmer and found things easier, it’s always difficult to open teams up at first."
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