Lionel Messi has impressive goal-scoring records against many teams in his career, yet it’s his record against Spanish side Eibar that has created a funny trend on social media. Messi enjoyed most of the success in his domestic career with Barcelona and helped them dominate the league for many years.
Over that period, he tormented a number of La Liga sides and often scored against the majority of them to help his side win games. But one time he really liked to play in particular was Eibar, who were relegated from La Liga in the 2020-21 season – which was also incidentally Leo’s final one at Barcelona.
As he nears the end of his two-year contract at PSG since joining them in 2021, many questions are starting to revolve around the 2022 World Cup winner’s future at the domestic level. He is again rumored to be inching closer to a return to Barcelona, as long as they can fit him into their wage system.
What is Messi’s record against Eibar?
Amid the rumors, some fans believe Messi might be willing to return just for one thing – and that is tormenting Eibar next season. Eibar are currently on top of the Segunda Division table and looks set for a return to Spain’s top division next season.
Messi has a brilliant record against Eibar. He played 11 games against them in La Liga and in that, he managed an impressive 20 goals and 6 assists. He helped Barca win 10 out of their 11 games, only playing out one draw and not losing once against the club based out of Basque County, Spain.
Leo even scored two pokers (four goals in one game) against Eibar and had goal involvement in every single game he played against them. He missed the two games against Eibar in the 2020-21 season, one of which Barca ended up dropping points in.
The ‘Eibar Man’ Memes against Messi
Messi’s insane record against Eibar caught the attention of some Real Madrid fans, who started calling him ‘Eibarman’ as a result. Thus began a flurry of memes defining him as the living nightmare for Eibar and a monster that rises to the height of its power in games against the club.
A plethora of memes have since been created, with fans becoming more and more creative with them as well. Some of them are plain disrespectful, while others are extremely hilarious and good enough for Messi fans to find them amusing as well.
Messi really does love playing against Eibar, because his goals-to-game ratio against them is better than what he did against any team he played in La Liga during his Barcelona career. He hasn’t really spoken much about why he loves playing them so far, or about the memes about him being the ‘Eibarman’ that have flooded social media.
The Argentina forward is focused on finishing the season strongly with PSG, who don’t have Champions League football anymore and only the Ligue 1 title to fight for. Whether Leo makes the decision to make a dramatic return to Barcelona and come back to torment Eibar again next season is something that remains to be seen.