Dominant win strikes defending La Liga champions to second place within the standings, 5 adrift of archrivals Madrid.
Printed On 2 Nov 2025
Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford struck for Barcelona as they earned a 3-1 win over Elche in La Liga to bounce again from final weekend’s Clasico defeat and transfer again into second place to path leaders Actual Madrid by 5 factors.
Barca continued to wrestle in defence and Elche had probabilities to trigger an upset on Sunday, scoring by means of Rafa Mir, with the striker additionally twice hitting the woodwork.
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Hansi Flick’s Barca have did not maintain a clear sheet in six consecutive league video games, within the midst of an harm disaster.
The champions had been lacking Pedri, Gavi, and Joan Garcia amongst others, however had been capable of deliver on Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo following spells out of motion.
Teenage star Yamal underwhelmed in final week’s defeat by Actual Madrid after getting back from a groin concern, however appeared extra spritely towards Elche.
Coached by Eder Sarabia, a former Barcelona assistant coach beneath Quique Setien, the ninth-placed guests got here to play and impressed.
Barca took the lead after 9 minutes when Alejandro Balde drove ahead and fed Yamal within the space.
The winger took a contact to set himself after which whipped a scientific end previous former Barca goalkeeper Inaki Pena, a teammate of his final season.
Three minutes later Torres doubled the hosts’ benefit, tapping house after Fermin Lopez broke into area down the left and offered an inch-perfect cross.
The striker revealed a t-shirt paying tribute to Valencia, his house area, a yr on from the lethal flooding which hit Spain’s east coast.
Lopez and Rashford fired narrowly off-target whereas Pena saved from Torres as Barca squandered some presentable probabilities.
Mir pulled a aim again shortly earlier than half-time. Barca tried to catch the ahead offside however he was in his personal half when he was performed in. Mir bent a shot previous Ronald Araujo and Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and in on the far submit.
Torres might need scored once more earlier than the interval however Pena produced an excellent save to tip his strike to security.
Early within the second half Mir clipped the highest of the crossbar with a curling effort as Elche battled nicely.
Rashford sealed Barca’s victory with an excellent end after Lopez picked him out with a cross, for his second league aim of the marketing campaign.
Veteran goalkeeper Szczesny pushed a Mir effort onto the submit to save lots of Barca sweating over their benefit within the last phases.
“It was crucial to begin sturdy and intense. From there, we might take the sport the place we wished it to go,” Torres advised DAZN.
“We knew the kind of recreation they had been going to play and we began very sturdy. We had been a bit off afterwards, however we discovered our spirit and our depth once more within the second half.”
