Barcelona ran riot at the Estadio Martínez Valero on Sunday evening, routing Elche 5-0 in the second round of La Liga's regular season. The visitors were ruthless in the opening exchanges, and by the time the whistle blew the gulf between the two sides was nothing short of humiliating. Elche, who had managed a draw against Deportivo La Coruña just six days earlier, found themselves buried at the bottom of the table after three games.
Raphinha struck first from the spot in the fourteenth minute, a penalty that set the tone for what followed. To be fair, Elche never really got out of second gear after that — Adeyemi doubled the lead before half-time with two goals in quick succession, the second arriving in the forty-fifth minute plus three. The home side's midfield crumbled under pressure, and there was no value left at that scoreline for either coach.
Barcelona turned to the kids at the break, bringing on Gavi and Adeyemi within seconds of each other. The substitutions kept coming — Aguado, Houary, and Tete Morente all came off for Elche around the sixty-fourth minute, while Lamine Yamal and Adeyemi made way for the visitors. Fermin then added two more goals in a spell between the seventy-first and seventy-ninth minutes, and Raphinha was taken off himself in the eightieth.
The statistics tell the story without embellishment. Barcelona completed 463 passes to Elche's 349, and their expected goals figure of 4.38 sat somewhere between the scoreline and a warning. Shots on target were seven to two, and Barcelona created nine big chances while Elche managed just three. The hosts had more possession in their own half but rarely threatened going forward.
What this means for the table is straightforward enough. Barcelona sit top of La Liga with nine points from three wins, while Elche have scraped together a single point from three games. The visitors clawed their way back from that opening defeat against Udinese, and by then it was clear they were a different proposition altogether. The gap at the top will only widen if Elche do not start taking points from weaker opposition.
