Barcelona: Messi madness at Camp Nou as he puts four past Eibar
Barcelona vs Eibar: as it happened!
GAME OVER! Messi with four goals and Arthur gets on the scoresheet too.
Braithwaite assist. GOAL Messi. The new signing takes it down and waits, waits, waits before crossing. Messi then waits, waits, waits before scoring.
Diop with a yellow now for standing on Braithwaite's foot after ball had gone.
VIDAL GOAL! But it's ruled out for offside. That's four, we think, so far in this game.
Firpo with the ball across the box. Sent out for a corner?
Messi with a free. He sends it over via a deflection. Tipped over to make sure by Dmitrovic. Corner.
Offside! Umtiti has the ball in the back of the net. Offside from Lenglet though. The two central defenders combine for the goal even though it doesn't stand.
Braithwaite's first touch. He crosses it into the stand.
Orellana drives a shot wide of the post now. Ter Stegen had it covered though anyway.
Griezmann off for Braithwaite.
Rakitic caught on the wrong end of Diop's studs and the pair converse about the challenge. Two men slid in and Rakitic got there first.
Eibar really trying to get a goal here but Barcelona keeping them at arm's length. they'll be delighted with this due to the Napoli game midweek. They're pretty much in second gear.
Umtiti replaces Piqué.
De Blasis with an effort now that Ter Stegen saves. The German not in the mood to be beaten today.
De Blasis on for Inui and Enrich is replaced by Quique Gonzalez.
Escalante is booked now for complaining about the goal.
Ball in the back of the net for Eibar but there was a foul. Pique tries to head off the line and Arbilla kicks it in. Dangerous play.
Inui goes close again. He wins it off Semedo and shots. Takes a deflection off Ter Stegen and goes out for a corner.
Ter Stegen forced into a lovely save. Free kick from Jose Angel Cote with the effort and Ter Stegen sends it around the post.
Busquets is replaced by De Jong eventually.
De Jong on the sideline now and ready to come on. Ball won't go out of play for him though.
Messi with another lovely pass into Griezmann. He plays it back but there was an offside called, perhaps, on Vidal. He wasn't interfering but apparently he was.
Vidal with a shot now that's straight into Dmitrovic but he's offside.
Griezmann with a cross into Rakitic. It's a stretch but he gets to it and Dmitrovic saves. Corner for Barcelona. They're hungry for more.
Semedo with a chance now and he side-foots it wide. Messi puts it on a plate for him but he pokes it just wide.
Corner for Eibar. Straight into Ter Stegen.
We are underway for the second half! Let's see what else Messi has in store for us.
Braithwaite isn't coming on yet but he is warming up and with a three-goal lead it might be a good time to ease him into things.
Braithwaite appears to warming up and getting ready to come on.
HALF-TIME.
No, wait. It's more than likely offside. Certainly looks like that.... and yes it is confirmed!
PENALTY! Griezmann taken down by Dmitrovic and they have a penalty now.
They nearly have a fourth. Busquets slams it into Dmitrovic's chest though.
Messi hadn't scored in four games, which was his longest drought in six years. He has a hat-trick inside 40 minutes.
GOAL! First half hat-trick. Messi tries to set up Griezmann and he loses control but Messi buries it instead.
Vidal tries his luck. Dmitrovic is off his line. He misses, badly, but it was offside anyway in the build-up.
GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! Messi again, who else. Busquets to Vidal, who helps it onto Messi. He runs straight into the box and slides past Dmitrovic.
Game has gone a little flat now. Barcelona haven't created anything since the goal and Eibar are trying but can't cause any problems in the final third.
Eibar trying another attack and they do look to have space on the right but it's handled by Orellana. Free to Barcelona.
Eibar with another effort, well, more like a half-chance. Sent wide and they want a corner but it's not coming. Barcelona looking for Vidal out on the left with long passes.
Rakitic into the box and it bounces up to Messi, who was offside. He slams the ball over the bar but it's called back anyway.
Orellana with the corner. That's blocked and then he tries one with the outside of his boot.
Vidal and Firpo get into a little bit of trouble. Eibar win a throw. They continue to play well without really troubling Ter Stegen. Really tricky team to play against.
Semedo and Griezmann link up well and the French attacker can't finish as Dmitrovic closes the ander and Angel gets a foot in. Vidal down the left now and sees his original effort saved by Dmitrovic and then he strikes the follow-up into the side netting.
More pressure from Eibar and Diop steps in front of a clipped Ter Stegen clearance. He chests it down to himself and piledrives it over the bar.
Orellana hits the deck as Lenglet tries to clear and catches him straight in the kisser! Really sore one and might need an ibuprofen after the game for the headache that one will cause.
GOAL! Messi with a goal. He clips it over Dmitrovic. Arbilla nutmegged and Dmitrovic completely left flat-footed as Messi clips it over him.
Messi gets it in a dangerous position down the left inside the penalty area. He tries to stroke a pass back into the middle but Eibar snuff it out and clear. They send it out the field and keep Barcelona out of the danger zone for now. Good start from the visitors.
Another dangerous attack from Eibar and Inui strikes. Ter Stegen veyr comfortable with that one at his near post.
Messi picks it up between the lines and he can't find a way through the back four. Barcelona do recover though through Griezmann and the home side start to get into this game. Hasn't been an ideal start for them with Eibar doing damage but they've weather it and look to cause some harm themselves.
Ter Stegen goes for a wander. He can't see any options and goes long down the left to Vidal. That kind of pass from Ter Stegen is important for them today because it starts an attack. Mendilibar not changing his style even at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona struggling to figure out Eibar's press so far.
Cross into the box and it's headed down to Ter Stegen, who palms it out to Inui. He sends it back in and that too gets cleared. Cross and Enrich has it in the back of the net but it's quite clearly offside.
Fairly decaffeinated start to this one.
Arthut with a hand to the face of an Eibar player as he tried to keep him at bay. Free for Eibar.
Eibar on the break early but Enrich loses control of it and Firpo sends it back to Ter Stegen.
We are underway! A seven minute delay.
There was a protest ahead of the game too against Bartomeu. Calls for him to resign, white handerkerchiefs, the whole shebang.
We are actually seriously delayed here as VAR is not working.
We are about five minutes late for kicking off.
Teams emerge onto the field. Vidal just slightly late to join the group as he's carrying a couple of kids. Not sure if they're his but it looks like they are. Anyway, team photo taken and we are almost ready for action.
Eibar players wearing t-shirts in support of Ivan Ramis, their 35-year-old captain, who underwent surgery recently for a knee problem.
Sergio Akieme, Rayo's former left-back, is on the bench today because of Jordi Alba's injury. Riqui Puig has been left out. Setién obviously feels it's not the ideal game for him.
Braithwaite will be forced into the quickest ever PhD in football tactics in the next couple of weeks.
Eibar have played Barcelona 11 times. 1 draw and 10 losses. Maybe they're due one?
Eibar are perilously close to the daner zone. Barcelona really need to keep the heat on Real Madrid with a key CL clash coming up and a Clásico next week too. This might seem like a foregone conclusion but Barça have been slightly volatile lately.
Mendilibar was asked if Messi would rest for this game. His reponse: "He rests during games, the bastard that he is! He knows when to rest and knows when to get involved."
Last five games vis Barcelona's official website:
19/10/19 (LIGA) Eibar 0 Barça 3 (Griezmann, Messi, Suárez)
19/05/19 (LIGA) Eibar 2 Barça 2 (Messi 2)
13/01/19 (LIGA) Barça 3 (Suárez 2, Messi) Eibar 0
17/02/18 (LIGA) Eibar 0 Barça 2 (Suárez, Alba)
19/09/17 (LIGA) Barça 6 (Messi 4, Paulinho, Suárez) Eibar 1
Eibar XI: Dmitrovic, Tejero, Burgos, Arbilla, Cote, Diop, Expósito, Escalante, Orellana, Inui, Sergi Enrich.
Junior Firpo gets a start with Jordi Alba out too. Rakitic comes in for De Jong and Vidal adds a little bit of steel in the final third. Eibar love to press high so it should be fairly rock n' roll today. Setien has come prepared.
Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Junior, Rakitic , Busquets , Arthur, Vidal, Messi, Griezmann.
Barcelona signed Martin Braithwaite from Leganés as an emergency signing after the injury of Ousmane Dembélé. He was presented on Thursday and is in the squad today for the first time.
Javier Aguirre, the Leganés manager, said 'they fucked us' by taking Braithwaite. Leganés are currently losing to Celta Vigo at Balaídos so maybe he's right.
Hello and welcome to our live online coverage of Barcelona vs Eibar in LaLiga! Kick-off coming your way at 16:00 CET from Camp Nou but stay tuned for team news ahead of the clash.