Barcelona faced off against Elche at the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero earlier this evening as they looked to earn a positive result on their travels. The Catalan giants struggled to find the cutting edge inside the Elche penalty box in the first half and ended up conceding a goal just before half-time when Fiden Chaves found the back of the net after capitalising on a mistake from Pedri.
Ferran Torres netted the all-important equaliser for Barca at the hour mark when he scored from close range. Memphis Depay managed to win the game for the visitors in the 88th minute as he scored from the penalty spot. Barca ended up grinding out a narrow 2-1 in La Liga.
Let’s take a look at how each Barcelona player performed during the clash against Elche.
GK: Marc-André ter Stegen – 6.5/10
The German keeper made a couple of saves but couldn’t stop Chaves from scoring late in the first half. He was tidy with his passing.
RB: Dani Alves – 6.5/10
He got stuck in with two solid tackles and managed to engineer a couple of inviting chances in the final third.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 6.5/10
Araujo made a few crunching tackles and did enough to restrict the opposition from scoring more than once.
CB: Gerard Pique – 7/10
The Spaniard made a few crucial clearances at the back and won multiple duels in the air.
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LB: Jordi Alba – 7.5/10
Alba performed his defensive duties well and orchestrated a few promising chances up top. He ended the game with an assist to his name.
CM: Pedri – 5/10
Pedri gave away the ball poorly in the lead-up to Elche’s goal. It was not his day today.
CM: Sergio Busquets – 7.5/10
The Spanish talent earned the ball back a couple of times and orchestrated two good chances in the opponent’s half.
CM: Frenkie de Jong – 6.5/10
De Jong caused a few problems for the opposition going forward but couldn’t take any of his chances.
RW: Ousmane Dembele – 7/10
He did his fair share of defending and was a constant menace in the final third.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6.5/10
Aubameyang had a few lively moments but there was no goal for him today.
LW: Gavi – 6/10
He struggled to get into the rhythm of the game and got substituted at half-time.
Substitutes:
ST: Ferran Torres – 7.5/10
He scored Barca’s all-important equalising goal in the 60th minute.
CM: Nico Gonzalez – 6/10
He added some energy to Xavi’s midfield.
ST: Memphis Depay – 7/10
Depay successfully converted a late penalty to win the game for the Catalan outfit.
RW: Adama Traore – 7/10
He caused a lot of problems for the Elche defenders due to his electric pace.
RB: Sergino Dest – N/A
Dest didn’t get enough minutes to warrant a rating.
