Barcelona – Elche

Barcelona can move to the top of the table in La Liga pending Real Madrid's derby match on Sunday against Atletico. It doesn't get much easier than a home ...

Since it's clear that Barcelona are the better side and should win the match, but it's unclear whether they will be able to bury Elche under an avalanche of goals, they're superior enough to be at least a goal better in each half. 20 mins from kickoff: Big day for Franck Kessie in the heart of the Barcelona midfield. Goliath matches typically go: It's one-way traffic, and sometimes big clubs have their way with the minnows and goals are flowing (see Barcelona vs. De Jong is the player who seems to have the killer pass in him today. And the Dutch striker just spins the defender John on his back and blasts it with his left into the roof of the net. The Elche resistance seems to have let up — Barcelona are getting into the box with ease. Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen is the captain for today's match. This time it's Memphis Depay who gets the ball with his back to goal in the box. — Halftime: It was all Barcelona from the start, especially after the red card for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. They will try their best to frustrate Barcelona as they almost succeeded in doing on two occasions last season, losing by only one goal in their two meetings with the winner coming inside the final five minutes in each instance. [Latest top scorers in La Liga](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news/pichichi-la-liga-top-goal-scorer-spain-golden-boot-table/gjwod5nwpzazbtvzpfedzvyc)

The Catalans bounced back from their Champions League frustrations against ...

However, the hapless visitors did most of his work for him. On the cusp of half-time, Elche's Francisco had joined his skipper in the changing rooms. Pedri could receive the ball on the edge of the box and calmly slide it to Alejandro Balde on the left at his leisure. The first two scorers combined as Barcelona resumed their scoring within three minutes of the restart. Depay was unquestionably the target of Balde's pass barely five minutes later. Sitting in a passive low block, the visitors laboured over each restart almost from kick-off, willing the seconds to spill away.

Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski continued his insatiable run in front of goal by scoring twice while Memphis Depay also got on the scoresheet as the ...

We enjoyed outselves in the second half." "In the end, it was a slightly more easier game than we expected. [Barcelona](/soccer/team?id=83) striker [Robert Lewandowski](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/125824/Robert-Lewandowski) continued his insatiable run in front of goal by scoring twice while [Memphis Depay](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/159255/Memphis-Depay) also got on the scoresheet as the Catalans cruised to a 3-0 win at home to struggling [Elche](/soccer/team?id=3751) in LaLiga on Saturday.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Robert Lewandowski shook off his disappointing return to Bayern Munich by scoring twice to lead Barcelona to a 3-0 victory at home ...

“I assume the responsibility for the result and for my team having to make a tremendous effort.” “This is the first step.” The referee didn’t hesitate in sending off Verdu with a direct red since he was the last defender. The veteran Uruguay striker, bought off the transfer market, trained for the past three weeks to get into playing shape. Athletic Bilbao continued its strong start under Ernesto Valverde with a 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano to move into third at three points off Barcelona's pace. Lewandowski missed some clear chances against the team he helped lead for eight seasons before coming to Camp Nou.