Eibar 'gets rid' of Messi, his 'black beast'

Eibar 'gets rid' of Lionel Messi, their 'black beast'. It is not an innocent, although some read the news on December 28. The Argentine footballer will not face the Guipuzcoan First Division team, which he has 'martyred', in the Barcelona-Eibar match to be played on Tuesday (7.15pm) at the Camp Nou, due to the fact that he is in Argentina recovering from an 'injury' to his right ankle. The Eibarreses will play the last match of 2020 in the Catalan fiefdom on Tuesday, a year in which they can finish in relegation position, because right now, with their 15 points after matchday 15 of the league, they only surpass the last three classified by one point.

Leo Messi is the footballer who has scored the most goals (20) for the Gipuzkoan team in the First Division (20 goals in 11 games) -almost an average of 2 goals per game-, beating Luis Suárez (10 goals also with the Barcelona shirt) and Karim Benzema (8 goals with Real Madrid). Twice, the South American star, one of the best players in the world, He has scored 4 goals in the same match against Eibar, two feats that he achieved in Barcelona-Eibar (6-1) in the 2017-2018 season, and Barcelona-Eibar (5-0) in the 2019-2020 campaign, in the last duel disputed between culés and eibarreses in the Camp Nou.

The attacker He had chained 6 seasons in a row, beating the goalkeeper of the Guipuzcoan team on at least one occasion. At the moment, he will not be able to do it on Tuesday, although he will have the possibility of increasing his incredible records in Eibar-Barcelona that will put an end on matchday 38 of the 2020-2021 campaign, on May 22 or 23, 2021. That , if the league does not stop before due to the coronavirus, as it happened last year. The Argentine has always been a 'toothache' for Eibar, since the Guipuzcoans ascended in 2014 to the top category. With the help of Messi, the Eibar team has only been able to achieve a draw (in Ipurua) against Barcelona in 12 games between Catalans and Basques in First, with 11 defeats for the Eibar.

The best example was lived during the 2019-2020 campaign, in which the Rosario footballer scored 5 of the 8 goals that Barcelona scored against the Gipuzkoans between Camp Nou and Ipurua. Eibar arrived at the Camp Nou on February 22, 2020 (before the league break due to COVID-19) with a Messi who could not find the way to the goal (he had 389 minutes of scoring drought). However, in Barcelona-Eibar, of course, he recovered completely. And it is that, from what you see, the Eibar team is the best 'medicine' for the Blaugrana captain, with which all their ills are cured.

Thus, in minute 14 he made it 1-0 after tunneling Arbilla, in minute 37 he made it 2-0, and in minute 40 he made it 3-0. That is to say, Messi had reconciled with the goal and, once again, had become the 'ogre' of the Catalans from Ipurua, who had already seen how they had lost the game at the Barcelona coliseum by halftime. In the second half, Messi achieved his fourth goal (m. 87), and still gave Arthur time to make the final 5-0 in the 89th minute in the last Barcelona-Eibar. Those coached by José Luis Mendilibar came out 'scalded' again from their visit to the Camp Nou, where they have never scored. Neither did the team led by Gaizka Garitano, who debuted with a defeat (3-0) on their first visit to the Blaugrana fiefdom in the top flight in the 2014-2015 campaign.

Messi has scored 644 goals with Barcelona, ​​with which he 'rivals' with Pelé

The 'Messi phenomenon' never tires of scoring goals. Thus he has obtained 7 'pichichi' awards as top scorer in First Division, 6 'golden boots' (award for the highest scorer in top-flight European leagues), and has won 6 'golden balls' (award for the best world footballer). With Barcelona he has played 749 games, in which he has scored 644 goals, and has given 283 assists. According to the culé club, Leo Messi has become the footballer who has achieved the most goals (644) with the same team -after the one achieved against Valladolid in the Nuevo Zorrilla that helped to achieve victory-, surpassing the mark of the Brazilian Pelé (643) with Santos.

However, the Rio de Janeiro team has specified those figures, since, according to it, these accounts do not take into account the goals scored by Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pelé's real name) in friendly matches (448). In this way, the total sum of Pelé with Santos would be 1,091 goals in 19 consecutive seasons. According to Wikipedia (digital encyclopedia), Pelé played 1,120 matches with Santos, scoring 1,087 goals, records close to those just reported by the Brazilian club itself.

Messi left for Rosario (Argentina) just after the match against Valladolid, in which the team coach Ronald Koeman won 0-3. He left in his private plane from the airport in the Castilian town, around midnight on Tuesday, December 22. He should have joined training 5 days later, on Sunday 27, but he did not. Barcelona has issued a statement, according to which the player suffers an ankle discomfort of which there was no record. That happened a few hours after the club reported that the Argentine was staying a few more days in his country (while the rest of the squad has already returned to work to prepare for Tuesday's match against Eibar). The captain is scheduled to train again on Thursday, January 1, and that he can play against Huesca in El Alcoraz in the first game of 2021.

Eibar owes much better if it wants to score in Barcelona

Luckily for Eibar, the Argentine's 'morriña' has left him a few more days in his country. So, without having to face their 'black beast', perhaps, the Guipuzcoans may have a chance to score for the first time at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, December 29. Although for this they will have to play better than against Alavés in Mendizorroza, where on Wednesday December 23 they started winning, and then suffer a tough comeback (2-1) against a direct rival in the fight for permanence. The Catalans, seventeenth in the standings with 15 points, only surpass Valladolid (14 points) -third from the tail- by one point, and Osasuna (12) and Huesca (12) by 3 points. The Eibarreses, who enjoyed two days off (Thursday and Friday), returned to work on Saturday (afternoon) and Sunday.

On Monday, or perhaps Tuesday (match day), it will be known if any of the injured players (Yoshinori Muto, Sergi Enrich, Paulo Oliveira, Rober Correa, and José Ángel 'Cote' Valdés) are recovered. In the same situation is Damian Kadzior, who was out due to the flu against Real Madrid and Alavés. José Antonio Martínez, who has been transferred to Dallas, a team from the United States, is already ruled out.