Barcelona beat Eibar 5-0 at Camp Nou to move to top of La Liga table, as Argentinian legend Lionel Messi scored four out of five goals that Barca scored.
Barcelona’s emergency signing not only made debut, replacing Antonie Griezmann at 72 minute, he played a part in last two goals afterwards. He joked saying “won’t wash my clothes after I hugged Lionel Messi” after setting up one goals for Barcelona legend.
Barca obtained special dispensation to sign former Leganes man Braithwaite this week, and he came off the bench to contributed in two goals for Messi and Arthur that put the pressure back on title rivals Real Madrid.
Barcelona vs Eibar – Goals
Messi scored three goals in first half before adding a late fourth from a rebound from a Braithwaite attempt as Barcelona moved two points above Real Madrid, who face Levante later.
After a slow start, Messi scored a sensational opener when he finished off a superb solo run by chipping the ball over Eibar’s Marko Dmitrovic after 14 minutes.
It was a brilliant individual goal and in the 37th minute he had a second, bursting forward on to a pass from Sergio Busquets to add to his tally.His hat-trick came two minutes later after good pressing by Ivan Rakitic, the ball eventually falling to him in the box to score from close range.
Eibar continued to battle in the second half as both sides had goals ruled out for offside, but the hosts finished with a flurry as Messi capped a wonderful individual performance with his fourth three minutes from time and Arthur completed the rout.
Barcelona Coach Quique Setien expressed happiness as he was pleasently surprised by the impact made by his new signing.
Braithwaite did more than I expected, much more… Honestly, I think we’ve made an extraordinary signing. He will adapt perfectly to what we want to do, he was involved in two goals and he understands the game so well.
Quique Setien on Martin Braithwaite
Messi congratulated me, he’s a great guy and tried to make me feel comfortable on the pitch by passing to me often… I’m very happy to have given my first assist to Leo.
Martin Braithwaite , after the match
We suffer from you, we have to endure you, we have to cope with you, and we have no choice but to applaud Lionel Messi
Translation from Eibar’s Social Media Post
Defending La Liga champions Barca face Napoli in the Champions League round-of-16 this week at Naples, before travelling to the Bernabeu for ‘El Clásico’ on Sunday.
- Bundesliga
- Bayern 3-2 Paderborn: Late Lewandowski winner ensures top spot
- Serie A
- Juventus 2-1 SPAL: Juve at top, CR7 scored 725 goals from 1000 games
- La Liga
- Barcelona 5-0 Eibar: Messi scored four, Braithwaite had dream debut
- UEFA Champions League
- Atalanta 4-1 Valencia: Atalanta almost in quarter final
- RB Leipzig 1-0 Tottenham: Timo Werner scored from a penalty
- Dortmund 2-1 PSG: Haaland prevails over Neymar-Mbappe with a double
- Atletico 1-0 Liverpool: Simeone’s Masterclass at Wanda Metropolitano
- UEFA Europa League
- Arsenal 1-0 Olymoiacos: Lacazette snatched an away win for Gunners
- Inter 2-0 Ludogorets: Eriksen, Lukaku put Inter in driver’s seat
- Bruges 1-1 Man United: Martial levels as United secure a away draw