Barcelona ran out to a 3-0 victory over Elche on Sunday evening at the Camp Nou as Lionel Messi scored twice, with Munir El Hadaddi sandwhiched in between the Messi goals, to cap off a fantastic start to the season as the Catalonian outfit looks to take back the title.
The first half of the match went almost as expected for Barcelona. Elche started out as many as expected, as they played extremely compact as Barcelona were just having a little bit of trouble trying to find space behind the back four. But this was very early on in the match. Once they figured out a way behind the back four, they exploited it as often as possible. Messi was bright early and often in this match as it looked like he was back to his old self. After just five minutes of play, the Argentine slipped through Rafinha, but he was quickly closed down by a couple of Elche defenders, losing the ball as a result. This was just the beginning of what was to come.
Just before the 20th minute mark, Jonathas was spiriting down the right flank with the ball at his feet, got well inside their attacking third of the pitch, lifted his head up and just blasted the cross high into the sky. Barcelona got the ball as a result and continued to attack back down the other side of the pitch. This was, unfortunately, just about the best Elche attack of the night. They were the worst offensive club in La Liga last year and if they do not find the back of the net more this season, they will more than likely be relegated come seasons end.
Munir El Haddadi made his impact early in the 22nd mark as his shot slammed off the cross bar. At this point in the match, Barcelona were piling on pressure continuously and it was just a matter of time before the hosts broke down the Elche defense. Andres Iniesta also hit the cross bar as well, this one was in the 32nd minute. Barcelona finally found a way through in the 42nd as Messi broke the deadlock which lasted longer than expected. Sergio Busquets slipped as he played the ball to Messi. The forward turned past an Elche defender easily and placed it with his left foot into the back of the net. The drama was only beginning however, as less than a minute later, Javier Mascherano was went off for bringing down Rodrigues as he was clean through.
The second half was more of the same as the. Luis Enrique made his first substitute as Marc Bartra came on to replace Rafinha to sure up the back-line. Elche had absolutely zero fight in them even though they were up a man. They were letting Barcelona pass around the pitch easily creating chance after chance. Munir scored a peach of a debut goal as he lifted the ball past the Elche goalkeeper with the outside of his right boot just a minute after the restart. And finally, Messi rounded up the goal scoring and finished his brace with another ball that was placed perfectly into the Elche net.
Despite the black cat running on to the pitch to start the match, Barcelona found the game very easy. Claudio Bravo was never tested as he earned his first clean sheet with a Barcelona shirt on and Luis Enrique will surely be pleased with the way his side played this evening.