After two matches without a victory in the league, and a humiliating 3-0 loss from Bayern Munich, which led to it being eliminated from the Champions League from the group stage for the first time in nearly 20 years, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez was longing for a victory to relieve some of the pressure on his players.
Barcelona started with a group of youngsters, and it seemed to be reaping the fruits of that when the young Spanish duo Ferran Gutgla and Gabi scored early to advance the Catalan team 2-0.
In the absence of strikers Memphis Depay and Ansu Fati injured, Gotgla started at the expense of veteran Luke de Jong, and opened the scoring with a header after a corner kick by Ousmane Dembele.
After 4 minutes, the promising talented Gabi scored his first goal in his professional career, to double the progress of Barcelona.
But in the second half, Elche surprised his host by scoring two goals in two minutes through Titi Morente and Berry Mia, and it seemed that Barcelona’s nightmares would continue.
But Dembele watched Gabi penetrate the Elche defense in the 85th minute and handed the ball to the Spain player to pass it to Nico inside the penalty area to hit the roof of the net.
Barcelona climbed to seventh place, two points behind the European centers, but it is still 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Nico told reporters after the match: “We will fight to finish the season in the semi-finals, and this victory will certainly give us energy to move up the table.”
Elche has lost half of its league matches this season and may enter the relegation zone at the end of the round.
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