Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all on the scoresheet together for the first time as Barcelona beat Eibar 3-0 in La Liga on Saturday.
Barca had the edge in a tight first half on a small pitch at Ipurua and Griezmann raced onto a pass from Clement Lenglet before beating Marko Dmitrovic with a shot which went in off the post after 13 minutes.
That was the Frenchman’s first goal away from home as a Barca player and his fourth in La Liga this term.
Messi then went clean through and seemed certain to add a second later in the half, but Dmitrovic saved the ball at his feet and Eibar, without really troubling Marc-Andre ter Stegen at the other end, were still in it as the teams went in at the break.
Suarez looked to have given the champions a 2-0 lead after 50 minutes as he ran onto a pass from Messi and dinked the ball over Dmitrovic, but a VAR check confirmed the Uruguayan was marginally offside.
Frenkie De Jong, prominent in both defence and attack for Barca, then started the move which led to Barca’s third as he played a lovely ball into the area for Suarez after 58 minutes.
The Uruguayan tried to make space for a shot, but lost control and the ball fell to Griezmann, the French forward laying off a short pass to his left for Messi to slide into the corner and score his second of the season.
And two became three for the Catalans eight minutes after that as Messi ran through on goal and squared for Suarez to his left, the Uruguayan slotting past Dmitrovic to score his seventh of the season and ensure all three of the trident had netted for the first time in a Barca game.
Messi curled wide with a free-kick late on and Suarez flashed a shot wide as Barca missed further opportunities, but it was a routine win in the end for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
Barca return provisionally to the top by one point from Real Madrid, in action later on Saturday away to Mallorca.
Eibar, meanwhile, are down in 14th, just two points clear of the relegation zone.
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