March 06, (THEWILL) – Barcelona came back from a 1-0 disadvantage to win 2-1 against Elche on Sunday afternoon, continuing their impressive record under Xavi Hernandez.
Their successful trip down Spain’s Mediterranean coast is their seventh in ten La Liga games, despite the fact that they are 15 points behind champions Real Madrid. The visitors deserved to win after imposing themselves on the game from the referee’s first whistle, but they did so the hard way.
Fidel’s opener put them down 1-0 at halftime, and it needed goals from substitutes Ferran’s Torres and Memphis Depay in the second half to secure victory.
The Blaugrana had the majority of possession and threatened to make their dominance count on several occasions in the first half, with a wasteful Frenkie de Jong notably passing up the chance to put the ball into an almost empty net before squandering a one-on-one situation minutes later, but they were 1-0 down at the break.
Pedri’s errant touch allowed Fidel to dash past Dani Alves and clinically slot beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen against the run of play before turning away to celebrate in front of a frenzied home crowd.
Following the restart of play, Barcelona proceeded to dominate the ball and generate opportunities, eventually equalising on the hour mark. It came from Ousmane Dembele’s dangerous cross, which Jordi Alba tapped towards goal before half-time substitute Torres punched beyond Badia for his first La Liga goal for the club.
After both goalkeepers were pushed into great saves at each end of the pitch, the game went comparatively quiet, but excitement was reignited ten minutes from time with an infringement in the home side penalty area that needed VAR review.
Following the review, the away fans were the happiest, as Alejandro Hernandez awarded Barca a penalty after picking up on a handball by Antonio Barragan.
In the 84th minute, Depay stepped up to take the penalty kick and made no mistake, smashing the ball into the top corner.
Barcelona now sit in third place in LaLiga, two points ahead of Real Betis in fourth. Xavi’s side will now focus on the Europa League, where they will face Galatasary in midweek before returning to LaLiga action against Osasuna at the weekend. Elche, however, is still in 14th place, barely five points above the relegation zone, and will face Granada in their next match.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
