MADRID (AP) — Lamine Yamal scored early and Barcelona bounced back from its El Clásico loss by beating Elche 3-1 at home on Sunday to regain second place in the Spanish league.
Ferrán Torres and Marcus Rashford also scored for Barcelona, a week after losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in the first classic of the season.
Barcelona is five points behind La Liga leaders Madrid, which beat Valencia 4-0 at home on Saturday. Barcelona entered the game in third place, one point behind Villarreal, which defeated Rayo Vallecano 4-0 on Saturday.
“I’ve seen a lot of things that we did very well, and others that we didn’t do so well,” said Barcelona coach Hansi Flick. “We have to improve, keep fighting. It was an opponent that wanted to have the ball. We wanted to press and we did. We scored the two goals and created many chances. We didn’t do so well because we didn’t take advantage of those chances.”
Barcelona will face Club Brugge on Wednesday in the league stage of the Champions League.
Yamal, criticized by some after a mediocre performance against Madrid, put the hosts ahead with a shot from inside the area in the ninth minute after an assist from Alejandro Balde. Torres increased the lead three minutes later after a pass from Fermín López to reach 50 goals for Barcelona.
Torres, a Valencia native, displayed a message on his undershirt honoring the victims of deadly flooding in the Valencia region a year ago. The message said: “Valencia, always in memory.”
Elche responded with a goal from Rafa Mir on a counterattack in the 42nd, but Rashford increased Barcelona’s lead with a left-footed shot from a difficult angle in the 61st for his sixth goal of the season for his new club.
Rashford had a goal disallowed in the 52nd minute for offside in the previous play, and Mir almost equalized for the visitors in the 55th with a curved shot that brushed the crossbar. Mir also hit the post with his team down 3-1 in the 68th after a good save by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Elche, which is in ninth place, is winless in four consecutive league games, including three losses.
Barcelona, which had lost three of its previous five games in all competitions, continues to play at the Montjuic stadium while it awaits proper permits to reopen the renovated Camp Nou.
The defeat against Madrid stopped a streak of four consecutive victories against its rival.
Playmaker Dani Olmo and striker Robert Lewandowski returned from injuries for Barcelona, entering the match as second-half substitutes. They had not played for the club since early October.
Eighth-place Alavés scored first-half goals to beat Espanyol 2-1 at home and end a two-match winless streak. Lucas Boyé, who scored one of the goals, was sent off with a second yellow card in second-half stoppage time. Espanyol, in sixth place, had three consecutive victories in all tournaments.
Celta Vigo won their fourth consecutive match in all competitions by beating Levante, who played with ten men, 2-1, thanks to a goal from Miguel Romána in stoppage time. Óscar Mingueza had put the visitors ahead in the 40th minute and Kevin Arriaga equalized for Levante in the 66th minute.
Celta moved to twelfth place.
Levante, winless in three league games and recently eliminated from the Copa del Rey, was in 16th place, just outside the relegation zone.
Antony scored twice in the first half as fifth-placed Real Betis beat Mallorca 3-0 at home. Ez Abde also scored before the break. Mallorca is in 17th place.
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