The Camp Nou stage was set on February 22, 2020, for a La Liga showdown between Barcelona and SD Eibar. For this 25th-round fixture, the leadership fell to Lionel Messi for Barcelona and Gonzalo Escalante for Eibar.
Barcelona and SD Eibar football clubs battled at the Camp Nou in Spain’s football ground for the La Liga Cup on 22nd February 2020. In the 25th round, the match had Lionel Messi captaining the Barcelona team and Gonzalo Escalante leading the SD Eibar team on the football stadium.
After a prolonged goal drought that had drawn fierce criticism from the press, Lionel Messi made a stunning comeback. The Barca skipper not only secured a first-half hat-trick but also added a fourth goal after the break, while Arthur provided the final touch to wrap up a 5-0 rout of Eibar.
Eibar tried to fight back early on, but a promising move between Cote and Sergi Enrich ended in an offside call. Another opportunity saw Orellana feed Inui, whose effort was thwarted by the reflexes of Marc-André ter Stegen. Barcelona didn't need many chances to respond, opening the scoring in the 14th minute thanks to a precise pass from Ivan Rakitic to Messi.
Leading up to the second goal, a couple of rushed passes between Rakitic and Messi drifted out of play. However, just before the 36th minute, Barcelona regained control; Sergio Busquets linked up with Messi, who curled a brilliant shot into the corner of the net, beating the Eibar keeper.
Just three minutes later, Messi completed his hat-trick, finishing off a clever assist from Antoine Griezmann. Griezmann remained active throughout the match, attempting a volley following a sequence involving Semedo and Vidal, though it was gathered by Dmitrovic. A subsequent attempt by Griezmann resulted in a collision with the keeper, and a later effort by Nelson Semedo lacked the necessary accuracy.
In the 70th minute, Barcelona added a fourth goal through a fluid team effort involving Rakitic, Messi, Vidal, and Martin Braithwaite, before the ball returned to Messi for the finish. The scoring was rounded off in the 89th minute when a quick exchange between Braithwaite and Arthur led to the fifth goal. With this result, Barcelona solidified their lead at the top of the 2019-2020 La Liga table with 55 points.