Having secured their spot in the top eight of the Champions League standings, FC Barcelona returned to Spain to face La Liga’s 12th-place, Elche CF. The game ended up being exactly what they needed to continue their good streak and secure their place at the top of the Spanish standings.
It didn’t take long for Barcelona to open the score. Six minutes after the first whistle, Lamine Yamal received the ball from Raphinha, managed to get past his past teammate, Iñaki Peña, and put his team in the lead. This was the start that Blaugrana was dreaming of. Unfortunately, things quickly took a turn for the worse.
Barcelona noted many different chances throughout the game, but most of them ended with bars, crosses, or near-misses. Since missed opportunities often came back to haunt those who didn’t use them, the Catalan team’s efforts led to a counterattack from their opponents. Half an hour into the game, Álvaro Rodríguez found himself alone with Joan García. Despite the goalkeeper’s efforts, he put the ball in Blaugrana’s net, equalizing the score.
For quite a while, the Culers were prepared for their team to walk into the changing room without an advantage. Frenkie de Jong and Ferran Torres were determined not to let that happen. The former ran circles around Elche’s goalkeeper, and the latter finished the action with a beautiful shot. Barcelona returned to the lead.
The beginning of the second half brought with it commendable attacks from both teams. This time, Elche was the first to put the ball in their opponent’s net, but the goal was offside and therefore disallowed. The team continued their efforts, but to no avail.
Barcelona, on the other hand, did manage to add one more goal to their tally. The action started with Yamal attempting to change the score, only to see his shot defended by one of Elche’s players. Following his efforts, Marcus Rashford, who had entered the field not long before, made an attempt of his own. Unlike the one of his teammate, his culminated with the final goal of the evening.
Although the score was good enough to keep Barcelona in a favorable position, the team’s coach, Hansi Flick, was quick to admit that there were things to be improved in the game. In relation to the multitude of missed opportunities, during a pitch-side interview, he stated:
“We can’t keep missing these chances. It’s good that we created so many chances, but we needed to finish off the game in the first half and score many more goals.”
In a press conference following the match, Flick also added:
“I think that we played a really great game, almost perfect… except in the last 3 meters.”
Criticism wasn’t the only thing Flick had to offer. During his media appearances, he also spared no praise for his players, especially the ever-impressive Yamal. De Jong, Fermin Lopez, and Dani Olmo were also mentioned in a rather positive light.
In the end, what mattered most was the score, which worked in Blaugrana’s favor. With the satisfying 3-1 score, they added three points to their total and remained on top of La Liga’s standings. Due to Real Madrid’s last-minute win against Rayo Vallecano, only one point separates them from the runners-up.
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