Eibar 0-3 Barcelona: 3 Talking Points | LaLiga 2019/2020

#2 Barcelona's front three come good

Griezmann and Suarez got on the scoresheet

After one of the most protracted transfers in recent memory, Antoine Griezmann finally joined Barcelona over the summer for the sum of €120m.

The 28-year-old had proven his mettle with Atletico Madrid and it was expected that he would complement Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in attack, but unfortunate injuries to the two Barcelona legends meant that fans of the Blaugrana had to wait to see the three men in action.

Against Villareal on matchday 6, the trio started a game together for the first time, but Messi's substitution at half-time ended the parade before it truly began.

With all three men fit and raring to go, Ernesto Valverde deployed his three attacking weapons against Eibar from the get-go and it took less than 15 minutes for one of them to get on the scoresheet, as Antoine Griezmann neatly put the home side ahead in the 13th minute.

After surviving an onslaught of Eibar pressure for the rest of the first half, Barcelona entered full gear in the second and Lionel Messi got his second goal of the campaign exquisitely.

Frenkie de Jong initiated the attack and found Luis Suarez who in turn played in Antoine Griezmann and the Frenchman found Lionel Messi with an exquisite flick with his backheel.

With Lionel Messi faced one-on-one with any goalkeeper in such a scenario, there is usually only one outcome and nobody would have been genuinely surprised when the ball ended in the back of the net to send Barcelona 2-0 up in the 58th minute.

Just eight minutes later, Messi tuned provider as he latched onto a pristine through ball by Griezmann and unselfishly squared for his Uruguayan teammate to put the result beyond the reach of Eibar.

This means that all three men got their names on the scoresheet and what would have been most pleasing to Valverde is the excellent link-up play and understanding exhibited by the trio.

Prior to his arrival, there were fears expressed over whether Antoine Griezmann could adapt to the gameplay of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, but while there were moments where he appeared out of sync with his fellow forwards particularly in the first half, on the overall balance of play, he worked excellently in tandem with the two.