Athletic Bilbao 0-4 Barcelona: Lionel Messi scores brace and makes history as Barcelona win their 31st Copa del Rey

Barcelona easily cruised to their first trophy of 2020-21 - their first silverware since 2019 - as they thrashed Athletic Bilbao 4 goals to nothing. Barcelona were unable to find their breakthrough despite having a lion's share of ball possession until the 60th minute.

Antoine Griezmann turned in Frenkie de Jong's cross to give Barcelona their first. Barcelona would go on to score three more goals in the space of 12 minutes. De Jong scored Barcelona's second, merely 3 minutes after Griezmann's. Thereon, it was a Messi show, with the Argentine driving from his own half, exchanging twice with De Jong to score Barcelona’s third. His second goal - Barcelona's fourth - came in four minutes after his first - a truly sublime goal.

Messi's first goal for Barcelona at the 2021 Copa del Rey

Messi's brace takes his goal tally for the season to 31 goals. As of now, he has scored more than 3 goals for Barcelona in all competitions in 13 straight seasons. Barcelona have now won the Copa del Rey 31 times.

Messi passed Telmo Zarra as the all-time leading Copa del Rey final goal scorer with his second-half brace; with his pair of strikes taking him to 10 goals in the competition's final. Messi has now won the tournament seven times. This Copa win is Messi's 35th trophy with Barcelona and his first Copa del Rey as captain.

“Today is a very happy day. It’s special to be the captain of this team where I’ve been playing all my life," Messi told Barca TV. "It is a very special cup because this year is different, as a transition year with so many young players. The team is growing and we are also fighting for La Liga.”

"To win a title is important for me," said Koeman, whose side are third in La Liga - two points behind leaders Atletico Madrid.

"Despite the changes at the club and the young players, at Barca you have to always fight for trophies.

"We have the first one and now we are going to fight to the last game in La Liga."

Koeman also expressed his desire for Messi to stay in Barcelona beyond the current season. “Messi is a winner. We have to talk about all our players because they deserve this title. But Messi makes the difference. All of us want Messi to stay here," Koeman said.

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