23' Soares returns to the pitch after two minutes of treatment and immediately slots back in on the left-hand side of defence. The visitors then attempt to press high up the pitch but Koeman's men appear unphased as they knock the ball about with relative ease from one side of the pitch to the other.
22' SAVE! Play gets back underway with Pjanic's corner towards the near post, which is met by the head of Araujo. The centre-back makes good connection with the header but Dmitrovic saves well to his left to stop the hosts from opening the scoring.
21' Griezmann finds Dest to the right of the area and the right wing-back then spurns a great crossing opportunity, as he fires straight into the stomach of Soares. That looked like a sore one for Eibar's left-back and, in fact, the visitors medical team are going to have to come on to treat him.
19' Koeman cuts a frustrated figure on the touchline so far, which comes as no surprise, given the visitors' relative dominance in the last ten minutes or so. Things do start to look more promising for his team, however, as Pjanic and De Jong have started to get their foot on the ball in the middle of the park in the last minute or so.
18' Dest is far too casual in possession as he attempts to spin past Soares. Fortunately for the hosts, despite dispossessing the right wing-back, Soares' cross into the area then gets headed away by Firpo, with Exposito ready to pounce behind him.
17' There is a bit of a scramble inside the area before Barcelona eventually regroup and clear the ball as far as the halfway line. Mendibilar's men then go down the left through Kadzior and look to have created an opening until Ter Stegen collects a high ball to calm things down.
15' Soares has acres of space to roam on the left and duly obliges before finding Kadzior, whose cross towards the near post gets turned away for another corner by Dest.
14' At home, Barcelona have won their six LaLiga games against Eibar, scoring at least three goals in each of these games and keeping three clean sheets, including their last two. Koeman and his men will be hoping to produce a similar result this game.
13' SInce the penalty, the away side have grown into the game. This time, Inui spins around Mingueza before winning his side's first corner of the game on the left.
12' Eibar's free-kick comes to nothing as Garcia collects the loose ball before drilling a left-footed effort well wide of Ter Stegen's goal to the left.
11' Firpo's first touch lets him down before the left wing-back catches Kadzior with a raised boot, offering the visitors a set-piece in a decent position to the right of the pitch.
10' The visitors will feel like the penalty miss is justice for a dubious VAR decision in the first place. Down the other end, Mendilibar's side have their first shot on target as Ter Stegen saves Inui's tame effort.
8' PENALTY MISS! Braithwaite stutters up to the penalty before driving a right-footed effort wide to the left of the goal! Dmitrovic dived the right way too but that does not matter as the hosts' striker puts the penalty wide of the target.
7' PENALTY TO BARCELONA! Referee Rojas consults the monitor on the touchline before deeming that Araujo did in fact beat Bigas to the loose ball in the area and that the centre-back was then caught by Bigas' trailing leg.
6' Koeman's side feel they should have a penalty after Araujo is caught late in the area by a combination of Bigas and Exposito from the corner. Referee Rojas disagrees but VAR is going to have a look at this while there is a break in play.
4' The first corner of the game comes as De Jong and Firpo link-up on the left-hand side, with the latter reaching the byline before his attempted cross gets turned behind.
3' Dest gets the chance to run at Soares and beats him near the right-hand touchline, however, the hosts' right wing-back then cuts the ball back to no one on the edge of the area, which allows the visitors to regain possession.
2' Pjanic sends a long ball for Braithwaite to chase but, after Burgos fails to intercept, Bigas clears up the danger and hooks a clearance to the left-hand side.
1' Referee Javier Alberola Rojas blows his whistle to get this LaLiga fixture underway!
The players are making their way out of the tunnel and shortly kick-off will be upon us.
The visitors have suffered their two biggest of margin defeats in LaLiga against Barcelona, both at Camp Nou, 1-6 in September 2017 and 0-5 in February 2020. Mendilibar’s men will be hopeful they can avoid another crushing loss here.
Jose Luis Mendilibar opts for three changes from Eibar’s defeat at Alaves. Diop joins Alvarez in midfield, while Kadzior, who was expected to miss out through illness, and Soares are the other two brought in by the visitors.
Ronald Koeman is forced into making two changes to his last starting eleven. Lionel Messi, who is nursing an ankle problem, drops out entirely and is replaced by Griezmann. At left wing-back, Jordi Alba misses out through suspension, meaning Firpo starts in the Spaniard’s place.
SUBS: Quique Gonzalez, Recio, Pedro Leon, Unai Dufur, Yoel Rodriguez, Paulo Oliveira, Sergi Enrich, Sergio Cubero, Roberto Olabe, Unai Arietaleanizbeaskoa, Yoshinori Muto.
EIBAR (4-2-3-1): Marko Dmitrovic; Pedro Bigas, Esteban Burgos, Rafa Soares, Alejandro Pozo; Pape Diop, Sergio Alvarez; Edu Exposito, Takashi Inui, Damian Kadzior; Kike Garcia.
SUBS: Sergio Busquets, Riqui Puig, Ousmane Dembele, Carles Alena, Neto, Samuel Umtiti, Phillipe Coutinho, Matheus Fernandes, Inaki Pena, Trincao.
BARCELONA (3-4-2-1): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Clement Lenglet, Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza; Sergino Dest, Miralem Pjanic, Frenkie de Jong, Junior Firpo; Pedri, Antoine Griezmann; Martin Braithwaite.
After an underwhelming start to the campaign, the hosts have picked up in recent weeks, winning three of their last four to elevate them to fifth in the Spanish top-flight. In contrast, Eibar currently occupy 17th and have only collected 15 points from 15 matches thus far.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the LaLiga fixture between Barcelona and Eibar.
