In the late hours of Saturday night Barcelona faced Elche the bottom-placed team in La Liga at Stadium Martinez Valero. Raphinha was unable to play in the match because of a buildup of yellow cards while Ousmane Dembele and Pedri maintained their extended periods of injury-related inactivity.
Marcos Alonso and Ronald Araujo were placed in the center of defense and Marc-Andre ter Stegen began in goal. The left and right backs at the start of the game were Jordi Alba and Jules Kounde respectively.
Eric Garcia had an odd debut at the center of the midfield. Gavi and Sergi Roberto positioned themselves in front of him to complete the midfield.
Eric Garcia had an odd debut at the center of the midfield. Gavi and Sergi Roberto positioned themselves in front of him to complete the midfield.
Just after eight minutes did Barcelona start to exert dominance over the match. They started navigating the hosts in a steady methodical increase in an effort to locate Lewy and Fati.
Only one minute after the games first goal Gavi had a fantastic opportunity to make his imprint but was unable to beat Edgar Badia.
Lewandowskis header agonizingly flew over the crossbar with two minutes left before halftime and Kounde squandered a straightforward opportunity to double Barcelonas lead. Even though they ought to have scored more goals the Blaugranas held the advantage going into halftime.
In the 56th minute Ansu Fati eventually ended his scoring drought by scoring Barcelonas second goal of the game with an outstanding solo effort. The player drove from the half-line box to the Elche box and then unleashed a low shot into the goal from outside the area.
After the score Gavi was almost immediately replaced by Franck Kessie.
Ronald Araujo was replaced by Pablo Torre in the 70th minute while Fati was replaced by Aleix Garrido seven minutes later.
Josans strike narrowly missed the goal and five minutes later Fidels header hit the crossbar. Guti missed two excellent chances only a few seconds later.
After the victory Barcelona briefly increases their advantage atop La Liga to fifteen points. Real Madrid will under pressure when they play Real Valladolid at Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.