Xavi's Barca Reality Check: A hard fought 2-1 victory against mid table Elche (Review)

 After the four-match dream run and hitting four goals in back-to-back matches Xavi's new Barcelona got some reality check at Estadio Martinez Valero.

Xavi opted for Gavi in place of Torres in the left-wing, Aubameyang as number 9 as usual, and Dembele this time in place of Adama at the right-wing. Mid-three was as a usual trio of De Jong, Busquets, and Pedri. And same for the defenders with Alba at the left-back, Alves at the right-back, and a rock pair of Pique and Araujo as a central defender and Ter Stegan as a goalkeeper.

The first half was struggling for Balugranes as they were not able to score and Fidel took Elche in lead after a mistake from Pedri in the last minute. The mistake was of Pedri but questions were raised on both Dani Alves and Ter Stegan who could have saved the goal but it was a classy finish from the Elche player. Even though Elche was ahead of us in the first half, still we created more chances than them.

 It was a unlucky night for Frenkie de Jong as he missed two big opportunities to put the ball in the post, one at the 28th minute when Elche's keeper saved the goal twice. First, the wide-angle shot of Dembele and second the rebound shot of De Jong. Again in the 38th minute, Edger Badia was able to win the one-vs-one against Frenkie. Dembele was good in the first half even though his cross accuracy was questionable. Auba was not much into the game and he missed one chance in the 13th minute from the cross of Dembele. Gavi was not involved in the game, he was seen running here and there only. Catalans were missing the gameplay of Ferran Torres from the left side.

Xavi replaced Gavi and Ferran was introduced just after the halftime break. And he created chances within a couple of minutes on the field. Even though the goal missing opportunity continues for Torres in this match too but he was able to put the ball into the nets at the 60th minute from Jordi Alba's assist into the box. But the Torres not finding the net curse continues again several times. But in the 83rd minute, a penalty was awarded to Catalans after a handball from Antonio Barragan and Memphis Depay took one of the most beautiful penalties to make his team seal the match.

In the last minutes, Elche tried hard but was not able to make the scoreline 2-2. And Adama's bad decision to shoot by himself kept the final scoreline 1-2 in the favour of Balugranes.

Player's performances:

Ter Stegan: 7, Dani Alves: 6.5, Araujo: 7, Pique: 8, Jordi Alba: 8, Pedri: 6, Busquets: 7.5, Frenkie: 6.5,

Dembele: 7, Aubameyang: 6.5, Gavi: 6, Torres: 7.5, Depay: 7.5, Nico: 6.5, Adama: 6.5.

My view:

It was a great learning match for Barcelona before round-16 matches of Europa League and El-Classico. Many things still have to improve like goal conversion, right back, goal-keeping, etc. Nevertheless, we got three important points and are now at 3rd position in the league.