Yamal-inspired Barca bounces back from Clasico loss
Barcelona bounced back from its El Clasico defeat to keep pace with rivals Real Madrid at the LaLiga summit with a 3-1 win over Elche.
Having seen Madrid temporarily go eight points clear with a big win over Valencia on Sunday, Barca hit back in an entertaining encounter at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
Lamine Yamal needed just nine minutes to break the deadlock as he picked out the bottom-left corner from inside the box after Alejandro Balde won possession back on the left.
Another defensive error from Elche two minutes later was punished again by Barcelona. This time, Ferran Torres was on hand to tuck the ball home from Fermin Lopez's cross.
Two minutes before the break, Elche reduced the deficit through Rafa Mir, who raced in behind the Barca defence before curling past Wojciech Szczesny.
Hansi Flick's men came close to restoring their two-goal advantage in first-half stoppage time, but Torres' shot on the swivel was brilliantly repelled by Barca loanee Inaki Pena.
However, Elche continued to cause the Blaugrana problems, with only the top of the crossbar denying Mir his second of the match nine minutes after the restart.
The visitor was made to pay for their profligacy just after the hour when Marcus Rashford crashed a fierce effort in off the underside of the crossbar from close range.
Not deterred by going two goals down, Elche continued to press Barcelona as Mir struck the right post soon after, which he then followed up with a tame half-volley at Szczesny.
Barcelona was unable to find a fourth, despite the introductions of returning duo Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo from injury, but it mattered little for Flick's side.
