Lionel Messi scored either side of half-time as Barcelona brushed aside Juventus 3-0 in their opening Champions League Group D clash on Tuesday night.

Messi made the breakthrough in the final minute of the first half, the first time the playmaker had scored against Gianluigi Buffon in his career.

Ivan Rakitic then doubled the Catalans' lead with a composed finish 11 minutes after half-time, before Messi completed the scoring 21 minutes from time with his 515th goal for the club.

Both goalkeepers were called into making impressive early stops, with first Marc-Andre ter Stegen getting fingertips to Mattia De Sciglio's well-struck effort, before Buffon did equally well to palm Luis Suarez's effort over the bar.

However, just as it looked as though the first half would end goalless, Barca struck through that man Messi, who played a neat one-two on the edge of the area with Suarez, before placing a low left-footed effort into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

The home side nearly added to their score when the irrepressible Messi crashed a thunderous effort against the inside of the post seven minutes into the second period.

That close shave was soon forgotten, though, when Barcelona added a second moments later.