FC Barcelona bounced back from their El Clasico defeat with a 3-1 victory over Elche at the Olympic Stadium. Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, and Marcus Rashford secured the three points despite a resilient performance from the visitors. Hansi Flick praised his team's attitude but acknowledged areas for improvement.
Barcelona extended their unbeaten run against Elche to 22 matches, marking their ninth consecutive victory over the La Liga side, with a 3-1 win on Sunday evening. The match kicked off at 5:30 p.m. UK time, following Barcelona's 2-1 loss to Real Madrid the previous weekend.
Elche started brightly, maintaining possession and pressing high, but defensive errors proved costly. In the ninth minute, a misplaced pass allowed Alejandro Balde to assist Lamine Yamal, who cut inside and scored with his left foot to make it 1-0. Two minutes later, Fermin Lopez capitalized on Adria Pedrosa's slip, squaring for Ferran Torres to tap in the second goal.
Elche responded just before halftime in the 43rd minute, when Alvaro Nunez played through Rafa Mir. The striker turned Ronald Araujo and slotted past Wojciech Szczesny for 2-1. Barcelona had conceded in the first half of their last 11 league matches, totaling 10 goals.
In the second half, Elche came close to equalizing when Mir hit the post on a counter-attack. However, Marcus Rashford restored Barcelona's two-goal lead in the 61st minute, lashing a shot off the crossbar after a pass from Lopez. From there, Barcelona managed the game, with substitutes Dani Olmo returning from injury and Robert Lewandowski coming on.
Despite holding only 49% possession, Barcelona created more chances through pressing. Coach Hansi Flick noted, “We had to press and we did, that’s why we scored the first two goals and created more chances.” He added, “We lack quality,” citing missing players like Pedri, but emphasized the importance of the three points: “The most important thing is the three points. We have taken a step forward and we have to be positive.”
Flick also managed Yamal's minutes due to an ongoing injury: “He has to manage his injury... We can’t say that he is at 100%.” He praised Fermin Lopez: “In recent games, he has always been involved in the chances and goals.”
Barcelona's lineup included Szczesny, Balde, Araujo, Ferran, Yamal, Rashford, Fermin, Casado, De Jong, Kounde, and Garcia. Elche fielded Pena, Pedrosa, Bigas, Aguado, Da Silva, Mir, German, Febas, Alvara, Neto, and Affengruber.
