BARCELONA, Spain (BN24)— Marcus Rashford scored the decisive goal as Barcelona bounced back from their El Clásico defeat with a 3-1 La Liga victory over Elche on Sunday. Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres had put Hansi Flick’s side in command before Rafa Mir pulled one back for the visitors.
The England forward’s 61st-minute strike sealed the win, lifting Barcelona to second place in the standings, five points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Elche appeared to score first, but their effort was ruled out for offside, quelling early celebrations. From that moment, Barcelona asserted control. Yamal opened the scoring in the ninth minute, expertly finishing into the far corner after receiving a pass from Alejandro Balde and cutting onto his left foot.
Two minutes later, Barca doubled their advantage when Fermin Lopez capitalized on a slip by Adria Pedrosa, crossing for Torres to tap into an empty net. Elche responded just before halftime as Mir beat the offside trap and curled a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Rashford nearly scored early in the second half, but the linesman flagged Fermin for offside in the buildup. The England forward soon made amends, receiving a pass from Fermin and firing powerfully past Inaki Pena to restore Barcelona’s two-goal cushion.
Mir struck the post twice in the second half, but Elche was unable to mount a comeback. The victory extended Barcelona’s unbeaten home record against Elche in La Liga to 25 matches, including 18 wins.
The result allowed Barcelona to rebound confidently from their recent setback in El Clásico, maintaining pressure on Real Madrid at the top of the table as the La Liga season progresses.
