Five goals, three scorers, no argument
Elche never got a grip on their own ground. Raphinha tucked away a penalty in the 14th minute, Karim Adeyemi made it two in first-half stoppage time, and by the interval the thing was already settled.
What followed was a procession. Raphinha got his second on 67 minutes. Fermin Lopez struck on 71 and again on 79. Five goals, three scorers, nothing conceded, on the second matchday of La Liga.
Hans-Dieter Flick left Rodri out of the squad for the trip. Barcelona won anyway, in second gear.
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The armband changes the pecking order
Flick handed the Brazilian the captaincy this summer and a few eyebrows went up. At 29, Raphinha is neither the oldest man in that dressing room nor the obvious voice in it. He replied in the plainest way available to a forward.
The 14th minute told you most of it. He took the ball for the penalty in a squad that is not short of volunteers. Captains get first refusal on moments like that, and he took his without a glance behind him.
Fermin Lopez, meanwhile, keeps doing the thing he has done since he came up. He scores in clusters. Usually after the break. Usually once the game has already tilted. Two in eight minutes is becoming his signature.
Elche pay for half an hour of hope
Five conceded at home in August. The Valencians survived roughly half an hour after the penalty before the second goal broke them just before the whistle. That is where these nights are normally lost.
For Barcelona, Sunday’s scoreline is not really the question. Ten months of it would be.
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