Barcelona dominated matchday 22 of La Liga but failed to defeat Elche when they faced Elche at the Martinez Valero Stadium last night.
Given Barcelona’s dominance and the chances they created, Hansi Flick and Co. should have scored ten goals on the night. However, they ended up winning 3-1, which was nerve-wracking until the very end.
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There were many positives from the team’s performance and some areas for management to reflect on – but the players performed well on an individual level. Most importantly, this victory helped Barcelona temporarily regain a 4-point advantage in the standings.
Barca Globo brings you three highlights from Elche 1-3 Barcelona.
A machine that creates opportunities
While much has been said about Barcelona’s missed chance against Elche last night, and it will likely be forgotten given they took all three points, there’s no denying that Hansi Flick turned Barcelona into a chance-creating machine.
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Elche may not be the toughest opponent Barcelona has faced, and their style of play doesn’t overly defend to suffocate and resist the Catalans’ attacks.
However, the threat posed by Flick’s side, and the ease with which they did it once again, goes to show just how high this team’s ceiling is.
During the ninety minutes last night, Blaugrana That produced an astonishing xG of 6.24, the highest in La Liga since the metric started tracking.
They had ten excellent chances that night, which were evenly distributed to all players in the attacking third, and shot a total of 30 times against Elche.
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Lamine Hjalmar, Fermín Lopez, Dani Olmo, Rafinha, Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres could all have a brace of their own, if not more, and Flick will be pleased with his team’s ability to seamlessly create openings in attack.
Clinical finishing and its need aside, having a team that creates chances but struggles to convert is far superior to a team that struggles to create chances at all. Barcelona’s ceiling is as high as the sky.
Yamal and De Jong take control
Unstoppable. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Barcelona were superb in every aspect against Ed Sarabia’s side last night, save for the last two goals. Players like Frenkie de Jong and Lamine Yamal stand out.
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First, Yamal enjoyed his most dominant performance as a chance creator of the season. His dribbling, ball-handling comfort and link-up ability are all excellent, helping him create opportunity after opportunity with ease.
Yamal himself had an xG of over 1 in 90 minutes and opened the scoring for his team with a clinical finish. He took five shots in total, three of which were on target.
Yamal also completed 4 dribbles, had an impressive 8 key passes, and scored 1 xA. In fact, it was his individual effort and dribbling that set up Barcelona’s third goal of the night.
Frenkie de Jong, meanwhile, produced a captain’s performance in midfield and led the way in the absence of Pedri.
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The Dutchman was responsible for controlling the tempo of the game while the opponents fought for equal possession of the ball. He moves the ball forward with conviction and balances his offensive and defensive responsibilities.
Barcelona’s control of the proceedings was largely down to De Jong, who also effectively blocked several of Elche’s counterattacks. On top of that, he provided a huge assist for the team’s second goal of the night.
Serious scope for improvement
Most of Flick’s takeaways from Saturday night’s game will be positive, especially considering how his side once again piled pressure on Real Madrid, who are yet to play.
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However, there must be serious reflection on how many chances the team missed in broad daylight – something that didn’t matter last night but will become crucial as the season progresses.
Missing so many chances at the highest level is largely down to bad luck and it was clear they were unlucky on many levels with the few chances they created against Elche.
But at the same time, Flick must also reflect on the fact that this is not the first time this has happened. The same issue was experienced recently against Real Sociedad away from home, but not everything can be put down to a lack of wealth.
There must be a serious effort to improve the team’s clinical performance as such missed opportunities will cost the team dearly on the bigger stage as the season progresses.