Barcelona’s goals in this match were scored by: Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, and Marcus Rashford in the minutes (9, 11, 61).
In contrast, Elche’s only goal was scored by player Rafa Mir in the 42nd minute.
With this victory, Barcelona raised its score to 25 points, occupying second place in the league standings, 5 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
While Elche’s score remained at 14 points, settling in ninth place.
This victory is a return to the winning track in La Liga for Barcelona, after losing in the Clasico against Real Madrid with a score of (2-1) in the last round.
The lineup of the two teams was as follows:
Barcelona: Chesney – Baldé – Araujo – Koundé – Garcia – Casadó – De Jong – Fermin – Yamal – Rashford – Torres.
Elche: Peña – Pedroza – Bigas – Aguado – Da Silva – Rafa Mir – German – Febas – Álvaro – Nieto – Avengerabr.
The beginning of the match at Montjuïc witnessed a fast pace, as Elche launched a bold attack from the first minute, when German Valera sent a dangerous cross inside the penalty area, but Alejandro Baldé intervened at the crucial moment with a skillful slide, depriving Rafa Mir from scoring.
In the second minute, Lamine Yamal showed the first signs of danger, as he skillfully dribbled past the Elche defense inside the area and passed a cross that reached De Jong, but the referee stopped play for offside.
In the third minute, Marcus Rashford tried to penetrate the visiting team’s defense, but the ball went away from him, wasting a promising opportunity.
After one minute, Rafa Mir fell into the offside trap again, which was repeated with his teammate Valera in the sixth minute.
In the ninth minute, Barça opened the scoring with a wonderful goal by Lamine Yamal, who received a skillful pass from Baldé inside the area, dribbled past the defender with great skill, then fired a powerful left-footed shot into the far corner, announcing the home side’s lead.
After only two minutes, specifically in the 11th minute, Ferran Torres added the second goal, as a result of successful pressure from Fermin in the middle of the field, allowing the latter to break away and pass the ball to Torres in front of the goal, who easily placed it into the net.
Elche received a quick shock, after a balanced start, they found themselves two goals behind in the first quarter of an hour.
The visiting team tried to regain its balance, but the Barcelona defense was at its peak of vigilance.
In the 23rd minute, captain Bigas intercepted a dangerous pass from De Jong towards Torres, preventing a certain goal. Barcelona continued its pressure, and Fermin fired a powerful shot in the 24th minute, but it went over the crossbar.
In the 33rd minute, Fermin almost scored the third goal, after the defense changed the direction of his shot to go next to the post. A minute later, Rashford responded with a shot from outside the area, but it did not find its way to the goal.
In the 38th minute, the English striker returned to threaten Elche’s goal again with a powerful shot that hit the foot of a defender and went over the crossbar.
In the 39th minute, Ferran Torres almost scored his second personal goal, had it not been for the brilliance of goalkeeper Iñaki Peña.
Three minutes before the end of the first half, Rafa Mir restored hope to Elche, after receiving a wonderful pass from Álvaro Núñez, and ran with it quickly, overcame Araujo, and shot strongly into the near post, reducing the difference to 2-1 in the 42nd minute. After reviewing the video assistant referee “VAR”, the validity of the goal was confirmed in the 43rd minute.
Torres almost restored the two-goal difference in the 45+1 minute with a powerful shot inside the area, but Peña brilliantly saved it, ending the first half with Barcelona leading (2-1).
With the start of the second half, Rashford had a dangerous opportunity in the 46th minute after a wonderful through pass, but he shot next to the post.
Three minutes later, Febast sent a cross for Elche that André Silva was unable to reach.
In the 51st minute, the referee canceled a goal for Barcelona scored by Rashford for offside on Fermin.
Elche came close to equalizing in the 54th minute, when Rafa Mir fired a powerful shot that rebounded off the crossbar, before hitting the post again in the 67th minute.
But the Catalan response came harshly in the 61st minute, when Fermin passed a magical backheel pass to Marcus Rashford, who skillfully received the ball, dribbled past the defender, and fired a powerful shot that hit the crossbar and settled into the net, signing the third goal in a wonderful way.
In the following minutes, the pace slowed down slightly with mutual attempts from both sides, the most prominent of which was Lamine Yamal’s shot in the 77th minute that went over the goal after a mistake by goalkeeper Peña, wasting an opportunity to score the fourth goal.
Barcelona’s control continued in the final minutes of the match, ensuring that the Catalan team obtained the three points.
