FC Barcelona bounced back to winning ways after their The Classicas they defeated Elche 3-1 at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Montjuic on Sunday.
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring early before Ferran Torres struck minutes later to hand Barcelona a 2-0 lead. A timely goal from Rafa Mir made it 2-1 and ensured that the game continued to be tense.
When it seemed like the game could go in either direction, the Blaugrana pressed on the gas pedal and eventually scored their third goal through Marcus Rashford, sealing the result.
The win helps them maintain the five-point gap with Real Madrid, which is growing increasingly difficult to cut down given The Whites' splendid form.
In that sense, winning on Sunday was a must for Hansi Flick’s men, and they did so with some comfort, taking all three points.
Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from Barcelona 3-1 Elche.
Positive signs
With Sunday’s clash being Barcelona’s first since the defeat to Real Madrid, there were a lot of questions as to how the team would turn up against Elche. After all, recent weeks have not been easy for the Catalans either in a sporting or a fitness sense.
Bringing home a 3-1 win after the setback in the league a week before, needless to say, is a positive response, and Barcelona can take home some positives.
For starters, the team opened up Elche’s defence with ease once more, looked more coordinated with the pressing structure and even dropped into a deeper defensive line in the second half, showing signs of growth.
Adding to that, the defence looked more reassured than in recent games with Ronald Araujo impressing on his start, while others, including Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde, also showed a better version of themselves than has been seen over the past few weeks.
While there are still a lot of tweaks for =Flick to make, he can leave the game with a reasonable number of positives that show signs of improvement from The Classic.
Understandable midfield mayhem
Pedri’s injury was the single biggest blow to Barcelona’s plans, and a lot was speculated on how Flick would manage to cover the gaping void left by his setback.
Against Elche, it was understandably Marc Casado who took the Canary Islander’s place in the double pivot alongside Frenkie de Jong, and while he did not do too much wrong, the difference was tangible.
Casado brought what he brings the best to the field, aggression, no-nonsense defence and neat distribution. However, what he lacked was Pedri’s composure under pressure, ability to break lines and progress the ball forward.
Most importantly, he did not have the same synergy with De Jong, and that difference saw Barcelona struggle through the middle of the park compared to recent games.
Most of the Catalans’ buildups came from the flanks, or through long balls over the top. Casado’s synergy with De Jong will improve in the coming weeks, but it will be a major factor to work on for higher-profile games until Pedri is back.
A rare occurrence
Barcelona have always been a side to dominate possession irrespective of the opposition, especially in games at home. For a visiting side, dominating possession or even contending for the same has always been a highly complicated matter.
Elche, however, did the unthinkable as they comfortably kept the ball and forced Barcelona to chase them for reasonable parts of the game. They competed on level terms with Barça for the ball and, in the end, walked home with superior possession.
At the end of 90 minutes, the visitors had 51% of the ball, and while it is not significant, it is a massive task for a relatively lower-rated club to play on such level terms with Barcelona.
So far this season, Eder Sarabia’s men have carved out a name for themselves as a side who play with the ball, keep possession and even employ a high defensive line much like Barcelona.
In fact, they are the team in La Liga with the third-highest average possession and deserve a lot of credit for playing with the confidence and style of football that they do.
Barcelona, in the end, made much of their share of possession than Elche and were superior, but Sarabia and Co. could well have had three to four goals themselves.
