Barcelona launched their La Liga title defense in the best possible fashion, crushing their host Elche 5-0 at the Manuel Martínez Valero Stadium to collect their first three points of the new season.
La Blaugrana delivered a significantly more convincing start than their rivals Real Madrid, who needed a late goal to squeeze past Espanyol 2-1 on Saturday night, setting off an early battle between the two giants following victories in their respective openers.
Hansi Flick tackled the encounter without a natural striker following the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres—and with no replacement signed so far—choosing to rely on Raphinha through the middle of the attack, supported by Lamine Yamal and Karim Adeyemi on the wings.
Raphinha opened the scoring in the 14th minute from a penalty he won himself after being fouled inside the box, before Adeyemi doubled the lead in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, registering his first official goal in a Catalan shirt.
Raphinha returned to net his second personal goal and Barcelona’s third in the 67th minute, capitalizing on a pass from new signing Anthony Gordon to practically wrap up the contest before entering its final stages.
The victory subsequently turned into a goal festival as Fermín López scored twice in quick succession (71′, 79′) to complete the defending champions’ five-goal haul and confirm his readiness to compete for a starting spot this season.
Raphinha preserved his flawless penalty record with Barcelona, having converted all nine spot-kicks he has taken across all competitions. Since arriving at the club in the 2022-2023 season, the Brazilian stands as the La Liga player with the most penalty goals across all competitions without missing a single attempt.
Hamza Abdelkarim was present in Barcelona’s matchday squad on the bench, though he did not get the chance to feature despite topping the team’s scoring charts during pre-season with four goals and being the only natural striker in the current squad, as Flick preferred to deploy Raphinha in that role.
Barcelona face their next fixture against Athletic Club at Spotify Camp Nou on Thursday evening, August 27, at 10:00 PM Cairo time (in a postponed matchday one fixture), seeking to maintain their strong momentum and early goal-difference advantage over Real Madrid.
