Braithwaite won’t get an assist for either of those goals, but he played the crucial roles in setting them up. His shot was a good one, but Dmitrov stood firm, only to be let down by his defence.
89'
Arthur has scored a goal for Barcelona!
GOAL! Arthur makes it 5-0! Barca have been nowhere near their best, but this has turned into a rout. Braithwaite got in behind and had a low shot saved by Dmitrov, but Arthur is on hand to tuck home the rebound.
87'
L. Messi has scored a goal for Barcelona!
GOAL! MESSI GETS HIS FOURTH! A great moment for Braithwaite, as he takes down a chipped pass from Vidal, gets the better of his marker and drills in a cross which Dmitrov parries back out to Messi, who teases Arbilla and Eibar’s goalkeeper before slotting home from five yards out.
85'
P. Diop gets yellow.
Diop has received a booking for a rash challenge on Braithwaite.
83'
S. Cristóforo enters the game and replaces Edu Expósito.
A final Eibar substitution sees Exposito replaced by Cristoforo.
82'
FFSIDE! Vidal thinks he’s tapped in Barca’s fourth at the culmination of a fine move, but the Chile international was offside from Umtiti's cutback.
80'
Once the introductions of De Jong and Braithwaite, Barca have certainly managed to have a bit more control in the middle of the park, mainly it seems because Messi has dropped deeper to act as the playmaker, with Braithwaite staying central up front.
78'
CLOSE! Messi loops in a free-kick from 30 yards out. His effort gets up and over the wall and is on target, but Dmitrov was well placed to leap and tip it over the crossbar.
75'
Poor from Rakitic! The midfielder was released into acres of space down the right by Messi, but his cross – which was aimed for the unmarked Vidal – is easily cut out.
Minute
Description
74'
A great first touch for Braithwaite, but an awful second one! The former Leganes man did brilliantly to take a long ball into his path down the right wing, only to get his second touch all wrong as he slices a cross out of play.
72'
M. Braithwaite enters the game and replaces A. Griezmann.
A huge moment now for Braithwaite, who is on for his Barca debut. He replaces Griezmann.
71'
Rakitic and Diop both lunge in to try and win a loose ball and both players come off badly. Fortunately, the duo look like they’ll be able to carry on, though the Eibar man is certainly lucky to avoid a booking.
70'
Eibar have been far the better team since the restart, with Barca putting in an extremely flat display.
68'
S. Umtiti enters the game and replaces Piqué.
Setien makes his second change. Pique is handed a rest, as he is replaced by Umtiti.
66'
P. De Blasis enters the game and replaces T. Inui.
Quique González enters the game and replaces Sergi Enrich.
The second change for Eibar sees Inui make way for Du Blasis.
A double change now for Eibar. First, Enrich makes way for Gonzalez.
65'
Escalante has received a booking for complaining about that decision.
64'
G. Escalante gets yellow.
63'
Inui gets the better of Semedo with ease following more slack play from Barca. He drives into the area and lets rip with a strike which deflects off De Jong and towards goal. Fortunately for Barca, the ball spins just wide.
60'
Barca’s midfield has lacked invention all match and De Jong should help in that regard. However, first the hosts must defend a free-kick on the edge of their own area.
59'
F. de Jong enters the game and replaces Sergio Busquets.
Here is the first change of the match for Barca. Busquets, who played a key role in Barca’s second goal, has made way for De Jong.
58'
Barca seem to be preparing a change, with De Jong receiving instructions on the touchline.
57'
Messi toys with Eibar’s defence before attempting to link up with Firpo, whose return pass is a poor one and the move breaks down.
52'
Yet another save from Dmitrov, who got down to low to stop Vidal finding the net. However, the midfielder had strayed offside, though Eibar's goalkeeper was not to know that of course.
50'
MISS! That’s a dreadful attempt from Semedo, who takes the ball off Griezmann’s toes to go for goal from close range, only to skew his strike well wide. Fortunately, the offside flag is up to spare the full-back’s blushes somewhat.
48'
An error from Firpo gives Eibar the chance to attack and only a last-ditch block from Lenglet prevents Escalante getting a shot on target. The visitors cannot make anything of the resulting corner though and now Barca have the chance to counter.
46'
Eibar have got the second half up and running at Camp Nou.
45' +1
HALF-TIME: BARCELONA 3-0 EIBAR.
42'
That is surely game over at Camp Nou and, for Eibar, it will merely be a matter of damage limitation.
40'
L. Messi has scored a goal for Barcelona!
GOOOAALLL!!! MESSI HAS HIS HAT-TRICK! Well, no goals for 398 minutes and now three in the space of 26 for Barca’s star. He capitalised on an Eibar mistake and looked set to go for goal, but instead teed up Griezmann. His sloppy touch was intercepted, but Messi made no mistake with a first-time finish on the rebound.
37'
L. Messi has scored a goal for Barcelona! Assist by A. Vidal.
GOOOOAAAALLL! It’s 2-0 now, and it’s the main man Messi once more. Busquets fed Vidal, who in turn laid it into Messi’s path and, once he was in the area, the forward had no trouble in sending a low finish across the face of goal from a tight angle.
It was a neat passage of play from Busquets and Vidal, who combined well to draw in some defenders and release Messi, though he still had plenty to do.
36'
Barca are not exactly pressing for a second goal, but seem content to pass it around in defence and midfield to attempt to draw Eibar out of position and spring forward through Messi and Griezmann.
32'
Eibar try to forge an attack together down their left wing, but it is cut out by Semedo. Vidal and Messi link up on the break, but the latter takes a rare bad touch, allowing Arbilla to intervene.
30'
More by luck than design, Burgos breaks the Barca press thanks to a heavy touch which gets him free of two players. He releases the ball into midfield, with Eibar subsequently attacking down the right through Tejero. His cross is met by Escalante on the edge of the box, but he can’t keep his effort down.
28'
Barca are well on top since that opener, and Eibar are unable to offer much in the way of attacking threat, with their front three forced back to help out their defence.
26'
Another opportunity for Messi, as the rebounds to him on the edge of the six-yard box, though from a tight angle, he can only lash over on the volley. However, the flag was up, so it would not have counted.
19'
Messi almost gets through again after a crisp exchange of passes with Vidal, but a defender just manages to block his path. The Argentine’s goal ended a run of 398 minutes without one for the 32-year-old in LaLiga.
16'
Eibar’s coach will be frustrated. His side had started well and looked to get on the front foot early on, while Barca had looked sluggish. But there was little the visitors could do to stop Messi.
14'
L. Messi has scored a goal for Barcelona! Assist by I. Rakitić.
GOOOOAAAALLLL! That is magic from Messi! Well, Barca haven’t really clicked into gear but, with a man of Messi’s quality in their side, it doesn’t always matter. He received the ball from Rakitic with his back to goal, before nutmegging a defender, escaping Diop and lofting a wonderful finish into the bottom-right corner. It's 1-0 Barca!
Rakitic gets the assist but all the credit has to go to Messi.
13'
Vidal finds Messi with a neat throughball, but Eibar’s defence swiftly recover their shape and crowd out the forward, whose pass towards Griezmann is cut out.
11'
It has been a sloppy start from Barca, who have given the ball away far too easily at times. However, since Enrich’s header, Eibar haven’t been able to threaten.
9'
Barca’s diamond shape is allowing them to pile a lot of players forward, though their formation is extremely narrow, meaning the impetus is on Messi and Griezmann to stretch Eibar’s defence. Of course, that is leaving the hosts with less players in the area when they do manage to get into the final third.
4'
Barca were 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture between these sides and won by the same scoreline in the corresponding game at Camp Nou last season. With first place in their grasp, Setien’s side will be looking to get the result wrapped up early and afford their coach to rest some more of his key names ahead of their meeting with Napoli.
2'
During that delay, there seemed to be chants against Barca president Jose Maria Bartomeu and the club’s board, with white handkerchiefs coming out in certain sections of the stands. It is certainly not an entirely happy Camp Nou at the moment.
1'
KICK-OFF! Finally, slightly behind schedule, we are up and running at Camp Nou!
Hello and welcome to LIVE coverage of LaLiga, as Barcelona host struggling Eibar at Camp Nou.
With Real Madrid not in action until later on today, Barca will move top should they claim what would be a fourth straight league victory. They have managed to find their form under new boss Quique Setien, though their performance against Getafe last time out was far from convincing.
Eibar, meanwhile, sit in 16th, two points above the relegation zone as things stand. They are winless in their last three LaLiga matches, though have only lost two of their last six games.
TEAM NEWS – BARCELONA SUBS: Neto, Martin Braithwaite, Sergi Roberto, Frenkie de Jong, Samuel Umtiti, Ansu Fati, Sergio Akieme.
TEAM NEWS – EIBAR SUBS: Sergio Alvarez, Quique Gonzalez, Paulo Oliveira, Yoel Rodriguez, Pablo De Blasis, Sebastian Cristoforo, Pedro Leon.
TEAM NEWS – EIBAR (4-3-3): Marko Dmitrovic; Alvaro Tejero, Esteban Burgos, Anaitz Arbilla, Cote; Edu Exposito, Gonzalo Escalante, Pape Diop; Fabian Orellana, Sergi Enrich, Takashi Inui.
Eibar lost 2-1 to Deportivo Alaves last time out and coach Jose Luis Mendilibar has made three changes in total, with Inui, Exposito and Tejero all coming into the starting XI.
The teams are out at Camp Nou and the match will be kicking off shortly!
TEAM NEWS – BARCELONA (4-3-1-2): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Nelson Semedo, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Junior Firpo; Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Arthur; Arturo Vidal; Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann.
It appears there may be a problem with some of the equipment that the officials are using, which is causing a delay to the kick-off at Camp Nou.
With his side having the result all but wrapped up, Setien has the liberty of being able to make some changes in the second half with an eye on Barca’s encounter with Napoli in midweek. Messi could well be rested at some stage, given new boy Braithwaite is on the bench.
That’s all for now. Until next time, goodbye!
The pressure is now on Real Madrid to retake top spot when they face Levante later on, while Barca can concentrate on Tuesday’s trip to Naples.
Commentary
More…