Arya News - Teenage star Lamine Yamal opens the scoring after six minutes to set the foundation for a convincing Barcelona victory.
Lamine Yamal scored one goal and created another as Barcelona extended their lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-1 victory over Elche on Saturday.
Barcelona moved to 55 points from 22 matches, four ahead of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand. Elche remained in 12th place with 24 points from 22 games.
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Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford struck to complete the win, sparing the blushes of wasteful Barca, who had 30 efforts on goal in the match.
“We got three more points. We continue to grow as a team. We haven’t reached our peak yet,” Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong said.
“We usually have people who finish well. There are times when they fail. The important thing is that we have them [chances].”
Yamal scores the opening goal against Elche [Jose Breton/AP Photo] Yamal sets the tone
Barcelona took the lead within six minutes when Dani Olmo played Yamal through on goal, and the 18-year-old rounded goalkeeper Inaki Pena to score his 13th goal of the season in all competitions.
Olmo struck a shot against the crossbar midway through the first half, and within a minute, Elche were level.
German Valera slipped former Real Madrid forward Rodriguez in behind the Barcelona defence, and he raced clear to score.
The visitors should have retaken the lead when Torres struck the crossbar again from six yards out with a poor miss. The ball rebounded to him, and he then steered it against the post in a comical sequence of play.
Torres got his goal in 40 minutes when de Jong found space in the box and, rather than shoot himself, laid the ball back for the forward to fire into the roof of the net from 15 yards.
It should have been 3-1 minutes later when Fermin Lopez somehow skied the ball over the crossbar from six yards with the goal gaping.
Barcelona continued to create chances in the second half, with substitute Rashford guilty of a poor miss when he put his shot wide with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Rashford got his goal in 72 minutes, however, when Yamal’s low cross was not cleared by the Elche defence, allowing the England forward to blast the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
“Barca attack very well,” Rodriguez said. “They have very good players, and it wasn’t to be. We will continue working to do better.”