Barcelona‘s 0-0 draw last week raised hopes that La Liga may not be a foregone conclusion after all, as it allowed Atletico Madrid to make up ground on the leaders and cut the gap at the top to seven points.
The league leaders have another seemingly straightforward fixture this week, against an Eibar side that have traditionally been favourable opponents for Barcelona.
Here’s a look at some of the stats and facts ahead of Saturday’s clash.
KEY STATS
Eibar have lost their seven La Liga games against Barcelona, conceding 26 goals in total (3.7 per game) and only scoring in four of them.
In fact, Eibar have lost seven games against Barcelona in La Liga, more than against any other side (same as Atlético).
Barcelona (W25 D5) could equal their best unbeaten run in La Liga – 31 games under Pep Guardiola in April 2011.
Eibar only have lost one of their last 12 La Liga games (W8 D3), 0-1 vs Atlético at Ipurúa in January 2018.
In fact, only including La Liga games from MD12 onwards, Eibar would be third (27 points), only two points off the top team (Atletico, 29).
Inui has scored two goals against only two sides in La Liga, Barcelona and Girona. The Japanese star is the last player to score two goals against Barcelona in the top division (21st May 2017).
Lionel Messi has scored in all of his six games against Eibar in La Liga (12 goals in total).
Lionel Messi loves playing against Eibar.
The Argentinian is the player who has scored more goals against Eibar in La Liga (12) than anyone else.
José Luis Mendilibar has won only one of his 16 games as manager against Barcelona in La Liga (D1 L14), 3-2 with Osasuna in February 2012.
This will be the 100th Mendilibar game with Eibar in La Liga (G99, W36 D24 L39). The Basque manager has won 36.3% of his games for Eibar in La Liga, his best percentage with a single side
