La Liga 2025-26: Yamal stars as Barcelona defeat Elche 3-1
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "La Liga 2025-26: Yamal stars as Barcelona defeat Elche 3-1")
Elche's Spanish defender John Donald and Barcelona's Spanish forward Lamine Yamal Photograph: (AFP)
Barcelona took the lead early when Lamine Yamal scored in the sixth minute after Dani Olmo delivered a perfect pass. The 18-year-old stayed calm, beat goalkeeper Inaki Pena and finished with a composed strike.
Barcelona claimed a 3-1 win over Elche on Saturday (Jan 31), moving four points clear at the top of La Liga. Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford helped Barcelona to dominate the match, although they missed several chances. Real Madrid, who sit second in the table, will play Rayo Vallecano on Sunday and hope to cut the gap back to one point. Elche, currently 12th, produced a strong performance at the Martinez Valero but were unable to stop Barcelona’s attack.
"We got three more points and we're still growing as a team, which is very important because we still have not reached our top level I think," Barca midfielder Frenkie de Jong told Movistar.
"Normally we have players who finish very well, maybe in a game you miss your chances, but the important thing is that we're generating them."
Barcelona took the lead early when Lamine Yamal scored in the sixth minute after Dani Olmo delivered a perfect pass. The 18-year-old stayed calm, beat goalkeeper Inaki Pena and finished with a composed strike. After struggling with a groin injury earlier in the season, Yamal has recently returned to his best form.
Olmo later came close to scoring himself, but his shot from outside the box hit the crossbar. Elche then levelled the score with a well-planned attack, as Alvaro Rodriguez broke through Barcelona’s high defensive line and scored past Joan Garcia.
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Torres then missed a huge chance, striking the crossbar from close range and then immediately diverted the rebound against the post.
The Spain international made amends by smashing home after fine work by De Jong, who drew Pena out and then found Torres, who was left with the simple task of finishing.
Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and Torres all spurned good chances for more goals as Barca created danger at will, with Elche coach Eder Sarabia, a former Barca assistant under Quique Setien, sticking with his open style.
"Normally teams sit deep against us but Elche are a brave team, they play well and like this it's more fun for people to watch," added De Jong.
Rashford was also guilty of missing a good chance after he came on for Raphinha at half-time, curling past the post as he ran through.
The English winger, on loan from Manchester United, did score Barca's third, his 10th of the season across all competitions, after Yamal's cross was blocked and fell nicely to him.
With inputs from agencies
