Welcome to Sportstar’s highlights of the Barcelona vs Elche La Liga match from the Camp Nou Stadium.
HIGHLIGHTS
Barcelona cruises to a 3-0 win against Elche. Robert Lewandowski with a brace and Memphis Depay with a goal. Barca stretches its winning run in the La Liga to five matches and go top of the table for now.
Raphinha’s cross from the left is headed away by the Elche defence.
Three added minutes at the end of the second half!!
Frankie De Jong trying to find a teammate with a chipped ball inside the box but he puts too much power in his pass and it is an easy catch for Badia.
Barcelona will go top of the table if scores stay the same way. How it will finish the gameweek depends on the Madrid derby on Monday morning 12:30 am.
Araujo tried to score with an acrobatic finish and almost did. The ball sat up at a perfect height for Araujo’s attempted scissor-kick but the ball whistles past the post. That would have been some goal.
Fati with a great chance to score Barcelona’s fourth- he had a clear shot at goal but delayed in taking his shot and ultimately bundled off the ball.
Elche Sub: Diego Gonzalez Polanco replaces Bigas.
Close: Pedri finds Fati with a lobbed-through ball. Fati shoots at Badia’s far post but cannot keep it on target. But the shot almost turned into an assist as Raphinha made a run to get a touch but he too missed it.
Booking: Ferran Torres shown yellow minutes after coming on.
Barcelona Sub: Ferran Torres replaces Lewandowski. The Polish comes off with a brace in the match and 11 goals for Barca in total.
Gavi slips a cheeky ball to Lewandowski who had timed his run well to remain onside. He does well to keep the ball under pressure and dispatches a shot at Badia’s near-post. The ball misses the target by inches.
Barcelona with 79% of the ball right now and Xavi’s team looks threatening every time it attacks. Barca also approaching 500 completed pass in the match.
Elche Subs: Jose Ferrandez and Ezequiel Ponce replace Boye and Morente.
Raphinha speeds past his marker on the right and passes the ball to Fati in the middle. However, the cross came in fast and Fati could not control the ball as well as he would have wanted to. By the time he recovered, he was already crowded out by the Elche defenders.
Pedri had options around him but goes for a shot from a long way out. The ball swings away from the target for an Elche goalkick.
Raphinha slips a pass to Gavi on the right flank. Gavi squares the ball to the centre and Lewandowski meets it with a first-time shot. He caught the shot well but it takes a block and Elche off the hook for now.
Barcelona triple change: Raphinha, Hector Bellerin and Ansu Fati come on for Dembele, Garcia and Depay
Chance: Dembele swings a good cross towards Memphis. Memphis meets the ball with a diving header but cannot keep his effort on target.
Dembele makes a darting run on the right trying to pierce the Elche defence but he is stopped in his tracks.
Elche Subs: Domingos Quina and Nicolas Fernandez come on for Chaves and Guti
Eleche hasn’t been able to secure a win at the Camp Nou since 1975.
Dembele tries to take a shot from outside the box but Guti snatches the ball from him with a good challenge.
48’ GOOOAAALLL!! LEWANDOWSKI SCORES HIS SECOND!! THIRD FOR BARCA!!
Barcelona sub: Gavi comes on for Kessie
Barcelona starts the half with a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals by Memphis Depay and Robert Lewandowksi.
Barcelona 2-0 Elche: Goals by Memphis Depay and Robert Lewandowski keep the Catalan side ahead in the first half.
Another well-constructed move by Barcelona as Dembele finds Kessie with a squared ball from the right. Kessie takes a first-time shot but cannoty keep it on target.
Five added minutes!!
Elche manager Francisco has been sent-off by the referee for his continuous protests on the sidelines.
44’ GOAL DISALLOWED!!
43’ GOOOOAAAALLL!! PEDRI SCORES BARCA’S THIRD GOAL!!
41’ GOOOAAALLL!! MEMPHIS DOUBLES BARCA’S LEAD!!
Barcelona is hogging possession at the moment. Elche not showing any urgency even after going a goal down. The red card might have to do with this reserved approach.
There was a VAR check for a moment because Lewandowski seemed offside when Balde played the ball to him but the check is over and the goal stands.
34’ GOOOOAAAAALLL!! LEWANDOWSKI SCORES FOR BARCA!!
Dembele threads a through ball to Kessie on the right flank. Kessie makes the run but Badia comes out of his line and reaches the ball before Kessie.
Dembele finds Kounde with a headed pass- Kounde goes for a first-time shot on the volley but it is nowhere near the target.
Gumbau swings a ball inside the Barca box from a freekick but it beats everyone and goes out for a goalkick.
A flailing hand by Kessie seems to have caught John Donald on the face and the latter has gone down. The Elche players crowding the referee and asking for a second yellow but the referee keeps his card inside his pocket.
Dembele with a well-measured cross from the left at Badia’s far-post. Lewandowski gets his head to it but the angle proved too tight for the forward to put the ball inside the net. Lewandowksi acknowledges the cross by Dembele with a thumbs-up.
Memphis turns inside the Elche box and shoots low at Badia’s near-post. The Elche keeper does well to get down and make the save.
Shot: De Jong has a look and goes for the goal from an ambitious distance. It is an easy save for Badia as the ball came straight at him.
De Jong tries to split open the Elche defence with a lofted through ball to Lewandowski who had made a good run. However, the ball does not reach the Polish forward.
Lewandowski flicks the ball to Memphis which pierces the backline. Elche keeper Badia comes out of his line to narrow the angle for Memphis. He tries to get the better of Badia but the keeper keeps his calm and stands strong.
The resulting freekick from Verdu’s foul comes to nothing. However, Elche needs a monumental effort if it hopes to take anything away from the game.
RED CARD: Elche skipper Gonzalo Verdu is shown a straight red for his professional foul on Robert Lewandowski. There was no attempt to win the ball and by the looks of it, Verdu denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Memphis holds the ball and rolls it to Lewandowski. The pass was ideal for a first-time shot but the Pole decides to lob the ball over the backline and find a Barca shirt. The plan does not work out.
Update: Boye is fit to continue. He was bleeding after the Kessie challenge earlier but the bleeding has stopped after he went off the pitch for some medical treatment.
Booking: Franck Kessie of Barcelona becomes the first player to see yellow for his challenge on Boye.
Kessie with a challenge on Boye and the latter is down on the ground.
Dembele gets the better of his marker and swings a good ball inside the box from the right. However, the ball does not find a Barca shirt.
As expected, Barcelona’s frontline pressurizing the Elche defence right from the start. The home side should enjoy lots of possession with Elche trying to soak up the early pressure.
The referee blows his whistle and the match is underway at the Camp Nou stadium.
The Lewa-fever!!
A FC Barcelona fan poses next to the Laszlo Kubala statue outside the stadium before the match | Photo Credit: REUTERS/Albert Gea
Barcelona vs Elche Head-to-Head record!
Starting lineups out!
Form Guide (In La Liga)
Match Preview
Barcelona will look to win five La Liga matches in a row when it faces Elche at the Camp Nou on Saturday, August 17.
Barca is currently second in the table, two points behind the leader and arch-rival Real Madrid. Elche is in 19th and has picked up just a point from its first five games of the season.
Xavi’s Barcelona will be coming into the match on the back of a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League. It was a match where the Catalan side had a plethora of chances, especially in the first half but could not take them. The missed chances came back to bite Barca as early second-half goals by Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane sealed the win for the Bavarians at the Allianz Arena.
Barcelona enjoys a good record against Elche. It has won six of its last La Liga matches against Elche including a 3-2 win at Camp Nou last season.
Team news
Xavi will have a fully fit squad for the match provided there aren’t any last-minute injuries. Robert Lewandowski, who failed to score against his former club Bayern Munich in Barca’s 2-0 defeat, has had a stellar start to his La Liga season, netting six goals already.
Elche will miss the services of Gonzalo Verdu who is out with a groin problem. Gerard Gumbau will also miss out on the chance to play against his former club after picking up a hamstring problem against Athletic Bilbao.
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