Vice-captain Gerard Pique said Barcelona "have a good enough team to get people excited, to compete for titles" as they began life after Lionel Messi with a 4-2 home win over Real Sociedad yesterday morning (Singapore time).

With their former talisman now at Paris Saint-Germain after Barca could not afford the Argentinian's wages, despite him offering to take a 50 per cent pay cut, the Catalan side proved that they could still be a force in La Liga after their season opener.