Barcelona continued their push towards the La Liga title with a comfortable 4-0 win at bottom of the division Elche on Saturday.
It was not a particularly inspiring performance from Xavi, but the quality gap between the two sides ensured it was never needed, with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice and Annu Fati and Ferran Torres both in action in the second half. Have come.
Elche made a bright start but soon reverted to type, backtracking and sitting deep in an effort to frustrate Barcelona – doing so quite successfully for the first 19 minutes before Lewandowski opened the scoring.
Ronald Araújo fired back a free-kick across the box and Lewandowski did well to take the ball out with his feet and arrow into the corner of the goal.
Elche responded well and really enjoyed some good spells of possession, although the next real chance fell once again to Lewandowski as the pole leapt high to meet a cross inside the six-yard box, but He got his jump completely wrong and somehow sent the ball over. above the bar.
Jules Cunde then saw an effort blocked on the line by Omar Mascarel as Barcelona went into a slightly ugly first half on top.
Early in the second half, Elche had a great chance to snatch an equalizer when José Ángel Carmona played a one-on-one fightback, but before he could get his shot away, the full-back’s hamstring let him down and he crashed. Base.
Moments later, Fati thundered home a second, driving from deep and sending a low effort across the goal and into the bottom corner.
Lewandowski added a third 65 minutes later, picking up the ball after Gavi had stolen possession and drilling through to remove any doubts about the result.
With the floodgates now fully open, Torres soon added a fourth, cutting inside from the right wing and slotting the ball past Badia.
As was the case throughout the game, Elche refused to lay down and he did manage half-hearted chances, but he did not have the quality needed to break Barcelona down in the end.
GK: Edgar Badia (4); RB: Halibelton Palacios (4); CB: Pedro Bigas (5); CB: Omar Mascarel (6); LB: Carlos Clarke (5); RM: Tete Morante (5); cm: Jose Angel Carmona (5); cm: Gerard Gumbau (6); lm: Lautaro Blanco (5); AM: Fidel Chaves (5); scheduled tribe: Pere Milli (5).
substitute: Raul Guti (6), Nicolas Fernandez (6), Jason (5), Ezequiel Ponce (5).
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6/10 – He will be busier than expected and at times he will have to rely on his luck.
RB: Jules Kunde – 7/10 – Played more as a winger but should have done better in front of goal.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 7/10 – A classy knock for the opener from Lewandowski.
CB: Marcos Alonso – 7/10 – Defensively solid and always ready to join the attack where possible.
LB: Jordi Alba – 7/10 – He looked fresh while trying to get involved as much as possible.
DM: Eric Garcia – 6/10 – A solid performance in midfield. Not tested very much defensively but kept things ticking with some good passing.
Chief: Sergi Roberto – 6/10 – Quirky but effective. The capture advanced well but struggled to break down Elche’s defences.
CM: Gavi – 8/10 – Electricity. Looked back at home in midfield as he charged into being involved in almost every positive thing for Barcelona.
RW: Ferran Torres – 6/10 – A quiet performance away from its well-intentioned goal.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 8/10 – Took its targets very well and could have easily had more.
LW: Anu Fati – 6/10 – Not a particularly impressive display, but the final product can’t be faulted.
substitute player
Frank Casey (68′ for Gavi) – 6/10 – Keep tickling things.
Pablo Toure (77′ for Araújo) – 6/10 – Brought good energy in limited minutes.
Alex Garrido (83′ for Fati) – N/A
Manager
Xavi – 6/10 – Barcelona weren’t particularly impressive but didn’t need to be. Xavi made his stand and then waited for his superior to bring about the result, and that is what happened.