Elche 1-3 Barcelona: Yamal strikes again for LaLiga leaders

Barcelona moved four points clear at the top of LaLiga after a dominant 3-1 victory over Elche on Saturday.

Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford sealed the points for Barcelona, who had to rally after being pegged back by Alvaro Rodriguez in the first half.

Yamal opened the scoring just six minutes in with a composed finish as he rounded the goalkeeper after being fed by Dani Olmo, before slotting into an empty net.

Olmo crashed a curling shot against the crossbar before Rodriguez went straight down the other end to slot his low finish into the bottom-right corner to level the score 29 minutes in.

Torres then incredibly poked a first-time shot against the bar from close range before the rebound ricocheted off his shoulder and against the right post on the follow-up.

But Torres made up for his miss by restoring Barca's lead five minutes before the break, rifling Frenkie de Jong's pull-back into the roof of the net.

Torres also had an effort cleared off the line on the stroke of half-time, and Barcelona were initially less clinical in the second half, with substitute Rashford curling wide while one-on-one with Inaki Pena.

However, Rashford made it three in the 72nd minute, firing Yamal's half-blocked cross in, with Barca's teenage star then wasting a chance to add a fourth shortly after, blazing over under no pressure.

Data Debrief: Barca's total dominance

Barcelona were on top from the very first whistle, though arguably, they should have walked away with an even bigger margin of victory.

Hansi Flick's side had 30 shots in total, and although only eight of those hit the target, they created a whopping 6.24 expected goals (xG), meaning they vastly underperformed in front of goal.

Torres was responsible for 2.48 of that total with his eight attempts, and could have walked away with a hat-trick on another day.

Elche, meanwhile, are winless in their last 11 home games against Barca (D3 L8), losing each of the last five.