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As it happenedended1571499431

Eibar vs Barcelona result: Griezmann, Messi and Suarez send Barcelona top of La Liga

All the action from the Ipurua Municipal Stadium

Michael Jones
Saturday 19 October 2019 13:30 BST
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Messi plays football on beach with British youngster

Lionel Messi teamed up with Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez as Barcelona's big three all scored in a commanding 3-0 win at Eibar in the Spanish league on Saturday.

The trio of star forwards lifted defending champion Barcelona into first place ahead of Real Madrid's match at Mallorca later. Barcelona now lead Madrid by one point.

Barcelona enjoyed their best away match of the season.

Griezmann put Barcelona ahead in the 13th minute when Clement Lenglet met his run behind Eibar's high defensive line with a long ball that left him alone to beat goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.

Dmitrovic denied Messi before half-time, but couldn't do it again in the 58th after a passing combination by Suarez and Griezmann set up Barcelona's all-time scorer in the area.

The three combined again in the 66th when Griezmann launched Messi with a through ball. Messi then slid the ball over for Suarez to finish off on the break.

Ernesto Valverde's team have won five matches across all competitions after an erratic start to the season.

Barcelona plays at Slavia Prague in the Champions League group phase on Wednesday.

AP

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Eibar vs Barcelona! Lionel Messi and co can climb to the top of La Liga with a win, at least for a few hours, but they will need to get past a stubborn Eibar side first. Full line-ups and team news coming right up...

Lawrence Ostlere19 October 2019 10:47
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Team news - Eibar

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:00
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Team news - Barcelona

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:01
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The last time the two sides met in La Liga was at the end of last season when Barcelona had already sealed the title.

Barca travelled to Ipurua and came away with a 2-2 draw. Marc Cucurella opened the scoring for Eibar before a brace from Leo Messi put Barca in front.

Pablo de Blasis equalised on the stroke of half-time for the home side and no goals in the second half saw the game end in a draw.

As Barcelona aim to go top of La Liga today they'll have to go one better at Ipurua and secure a win.

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:05
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For those of you interested in superstition, in their last 8 away games in La Liga Barcelona have alternated between scoring two goals and failing to score. 

In their last away game, against Getafe, they scored two goals. Does that give Eibar the advantage today?

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:08
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News broke yesterday that El Clasico, due to take place on 26th October had to be rearranged due to fears of civil unrest.

Today, Barcelona and Real Madrid agreed to a new date: 18th December.

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:15
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Before that though, Barcelona have to face a determined Eibar side at Ipurua later today.

No side has won more La Liga games against Eibar than Barcelona. They are level on 9 wins with Atletico Madrid.

Of the ten games between the two sides in La Liga, Barcelona have scored in every one averaging 3.3 goals per game. 

The Blaugrana side have conceded the most goals in the top flight against Barcelona with 33.

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:19
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Barcelona also have the honour of being the only team to net more than five goals against Eibar in a single game in La Liga.

It came in September 2017 where Barca won 6-1 at Camp Nou.

Leo Messi has 15 goals in 9 games against Eibar and Luis Suarez has netted in each of his last six games against them.

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:26
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Speaking of Messi, find out where he ranks in our countdown of the 100 greatest players of the last 20 years: 

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:29
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'Lionel Messi is sublime, he’s the standard, he is football'

The Argentine’s unique brand of everyday excellence has made the utterly remarkable, utterly routine. He is the greatest not just of the century, but maybe all time:

Michael Jones19 October 2019 11:36

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