Four goals from Lionel Messi sent Barcelona to the top of LaLiga as they eased to a 5-0 victory over Eibar at the Nou Camp.
The reigning champions wasted little time claiming the lead as a 14th-minute Messi strike left them a goal to the good before a quickfire double from the captain widened that margin going into the break.
A rallying Eibar failed to profit from a handful of second-half chances before their fate was irreparably sealed by a fourth Messi goal and a last-minute strike from Arthur, with recent emergency signing Martin Braithwaite also making his debut from the bench and a late impact on the game.
The victory sees the club push to the head of the table, with long-time rivals Real Madrid demoted to second ahead of their visit to Levante on Saturday night.
⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ FOUR more goals for Lionel Messi means...
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) February 22, 2020
6⃣9⃣6⃣⚽️ Career goals (853 games!)
3⃣0⃣6⃣👌 Assists
4⃣8⃣🎩 Club hat-tricks (one more than Ronaldo!)
🐐 First player to reach 1,000 goal involvements!
👏 Some way to end his longest goal drought in six years (four games)! pic.twitter.com/gmlmhK1xgp
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