Leo Messi saw the net four times as Barcelona cruised to a 5 nil win against Eibar. However, this came after he endured 4 games without scoring, which is his longest in six years. With tonight result, he became the first-ever player to contribute a total of 1000 goals.
Messi opened the scoring in the 14th minute after nutmegging a defender and then chipping the ball past the helpless goalkeeper. Thereafter, it took him just 26 minutes to complete his hat-trick. But that wasn’t the end, the Barcelona captain added a fourth in the 87th minute.
The final goal came from Arthur, who added a fifth two minutes later. With the outcome of that game, Barcelona became clear above Real Madrid, who face Levante later.
The spotlight from tonights win is that Messi became the first-ever player to reach 1000 goals contribution; that is a contribution of either a goal or an assist.
He has now registered 696 goals and assisted 306 times for both across his 16-year illustrious career so far.
Although Messi suffered a short goal draught, he was productive in terms of assist, as he contributed 7 out of the last 8 Barcelona goals prior to tonight’s game.
Indeed, the Barcelona superstar looks like he has several more years to play the beautiful game, which could see him extend the gap even further.