Barcelona bounce back from El Clasico defeat as Elche defeated

Barcelona 3-1 Elche

Barcelona have returned to winning ways in the aftermath of last weekend’s El Clasico defeat, as they saw off Elche at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Montjuic.

Hansi Flick would have been very keen to see his side bounce back from last weekend’s defeat in El Clasico, and they did so early on. On 9 minutes, the deadlock was broken by Lamine Yamal, who fired home from inside the penalty area after being played in by Alejandro Balde.

And only a couple of minutes later, it was two. Barcelona capitalised on another error in the Elche defence, and it ended with Fermin Lopez crossing for Ferran Torres to tap home from a couple of yards out. But minutes before half time, Elche got a goal back from Rafa Mir, who beat the Barcelona offside trap before curling into the far corner to leave Wojciech Szczesny with no chance of making a save.

Fortunately for Barcelona, they restored their two-goal lead on the hour mark, and it came from a brilliant Marcus Rashford strike. The on-loan Manchester United winger had been wasteful on a number of occasions prior to his goal, but he thrashed home an unstoppable effort that went in via the woodwork.

Flick was afforded the opportunity to give minutes to the returning Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski, both of whom have recovered from injury blows. But it was not a comfortable end to the match for Barcelona, as Elche went close on a couple of occasions – including when Mir hit the crossbar with a curling effort.

Barcelona close the gap to Real Madrid

The result means that Barcelona are back up to 2nd in the La Liga standings, having been overtaken by Villarreal on Saturday. Their deficit to Real Madrid returns to five points, as they now set their sights on facing Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday.