The reigning back-to-back champions of La Liga are off to a strong start to their title defense as Barcelona dominated Elche and cruised to a 5-0 win in their league opener at the Manuel Martínez Valero on Sunday night. The Blaugrana never needed to get out of second gear and easily found their goals, with Raphinha and Fermín López each scoring a brace and new signings Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi enjoying very good debuts.
Barça made a very
good start, playing quick, direct attacking football and pressing high up the pitch to win the ball high and create chances. Lamine Yamal missed a big one inside the box, and a high turnover created by Xavi Espart ended up with Raphinha being taken out in the box and scoring a good penalty to put the Catalans ahead.
Hansi Flick’s side weren’t as reckless and risky with their defending and spent a lot more time inside their own half than usual, giving Elche the ball and looking to create on the counter. The home team brought very little danger despite having more possession, and Joan Garcia didn’t have to make a single save.
The Blaugrana once again looked threatening towards the end, with Karim Adeyemi coming close with a shot inside the box before another instance of high pressing created the second goal: Marc Bernal won the ball in midfield, Yamal and Raphinha combined at the edge of the box, and the Brazilian assisted Adeyemi who opened his account with a neat finish.
Barça went into the break with a solid and deserved two-goal lead, but there was a sad note as Gavi was forced off with a lower leg injury and had be replaced by Pedri just before halftime.
Barça remained in control to start the second half, alternating moments of playing in a low block and keeping possession but always looking to play direct and find Raphinha in behind the Elche defense. The captain missed a very good chance early in the period but couldn’t miss again after receiving an assist from Anthony Gordon, who made a wonderful one-two with Dani Olmo on the left wing and gave the Brazilian his second goal to seal the win.
Elche missed two very good chances right after the goal to make it 3-1, and were made to pay for it with 20 minutes to as Gordon received a wonderful through ball from Pedri and showed brilliant unselfishness to give Fermín López a tap-in and turn the win into a rout.
Hansi Flick’s team doesn’t know how to slow down and continued looking for more, and Fermín scored an absolute beauty as he received the ball with his back to goal, turning away from his defender and finding the net in beautiful fashion.
The final whistle came to end a very good night for the champions, who overcame the absences and the lack of rhythm and completely dominated on the road and could have easily scored more than just five. Well done, boys!
