Barcelona’s terrific trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar combined to devastating effect as Elche were mauled 5-0 in the Copa del Rey on Thursday.
Luis Enrique was criticised for his decision to bench both Lionel Messi and the Brazilian for last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad, while speculation of a fallout between the Coach and the Argentine has intensified in recent days.
Nonetheless, in a probable act of defiance from the Asturian trainer, La Blaugrana resisted giving many of their starlets a run-out against the Valencians, instead promoting only Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marc Bartra and Sergi Roberto.
In fact, a total of eight changes were made by Enrique from the Barca team which failed to impress at Anoeta, while Camp Nou paid tribute to Fernando de Arcilla, the hosts’ former goalkeeper who died today aged 94, prior to kick-off.
The early signs seemed positive, with Barca enjoying the lion’s share of possession, in turn forcing Elche to do most of the chasing. However, their dominance proved sterile, allowing the visitors to ease their way into the match.
For a moment, it appeared that Elche’s mounting confidence in keeping Barca at bay was history repeating itself, but Neymar put a stop to the rot with a net-bulging effort past Przemyslaw Tyton after he was picked out beautifully by Suarez.
The Uruguayan then doubled the Catalans lead just five minutes later, embarking on a strong run into the box and applying a low finish into the bottom-left corner of the net, before Neymar should have made it 3-0 immediately after.
The ex-Santos ace dragged a shot wide from a one-on-one with Tyton, but he promptly made amends his miss by winning his side a penalty, which Messi duly converted on the cusp of the interval. The Barca machine was back in business.
With Enrique’s troops in cruise control, they soon hit their fourth of the night following a visionary pass from Messi to find Alba, who ghosted into the box from the left-hand side and subsequently slotted home a right-footed finish.
Barca’s work for the evening was concluded on the hour mark when Neymar unleashed a 20-yard strike, which cannoned off Enzo Roco and wrongfoot Tyton before flying into the top-left corner of the Pole’s goal.
La Blaugrana then had two more chances to increase the deficit, but Messi saw his curling free-kick tipped wide of the post by Tyton, while Pedro’s lob over the former PSV custodian whistled inches wide of the target.
The night was not all smiles, however, as an attendance of just 27,099 witnessed Barca take a convincing first-leg advantage in the Copa del Rey last 16 ahead of their crunch duel with Atletico Madrid this weekend.
Barcelona 5-0 Elche
Neymar 34, 59, Suarez 39, Messi 45, Alba 55
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Pique (Samper 75), Bartra, Alba (Adriano 60); Mascherano, Rakitic, Sergi Roberto; Suarez, Messi, Neymar (Pedro 66)
Elche: Tyton; Damian, Pelegrin, Roco, Albacar; Pasalic, Lomban; Coro (Jonathas 57), Fajr, Cisma (Franco 72); Herrera (Aaron 63)
Referee: Fernandez Borbalan
