They tell a great story at SD Eibar, about the first time the mighty Barcelona came to town.

The game itself, played on a drizzly Saturday evening in March 2015, was settled by two goals from Lionel Messi - but this particular tale is not about the multi-Ballon d'Or-winning Argentine or any of his world-renowned teammates.

Instead, it's about a brief exchange between two kit men.

Off the back of two consecutive promotions, this was Eibar's debut season in the Spanish top flight.

Over the course of the campaign, Barca's kit man had heard talk - presumably from his counterparts at other LaLiga clubs - of a sophisticated piece of equipment the Basque side were using to dry their players' boots.

Curious to find out more about the high-tech machinery, he sought out Ángel Fernández Zapico, Eibar's 64-year-old kit man, who happily ushered him into a cramped boot room beneath Estadio Ipurúa's main stand.

Once inside, Zapico pointed him in the direction of the revolutionary boot-drying technology he had been so eager to see.

As it turned out, the equipment wasn't nearly as advanced as he had anticipated. It was, in fact, nothing more than a cheap Ikea wardrobe with a few minor modifications: a hole cut out of the back to allow for a small, electric fan heater to be placed inside and a few pegs upon which to hang damp football boots.

That was it. That was as cutting edge as it got.

Though they share a division with the likes of Barca and Real Madrid these days, the reality is that Eibar are still leagues apart in terms of the resources available to them.

The boot-drying anecdote not only reflects this, but hints at the inventive approach the club has had to take to keep afloat in one of the world’s toughest divisions.