Without The Suspended Messi, Barcelona Again Secured 3rd Place With Goals From De Jong And Puig

Barcelona players celebrate victory over Elche (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Barcelona returned to secure third place in the Spanish League standings after winning 2-0 at Elche's headquarters in Week 20 of the Spanish League at the Martinez Valero Stadium on Sunday.

Frenkie de Jong and Riqui Puig scored two of Barcelona's winning goals which saw them now collect 37 points and return to third after being overtaken by Sevilla (36) the day before.

Meanwhile, Eche (17), who has now played 12 games in a row, does not feel the victory, he is getting stuck in the relegation zone in 19th place, according to the official Spanish League page, quoted by Antara.

Even without Lionel Messi, who is still serving a ban from appearing due to a red card in the Spanish Super Cup final, Barcelona still enters the match with capable attacking abilities.

Unfortunately, their first good chance through Ousmane Dembele's corner still ended with Ronald Araujo's header hovering over the bar after just six minutes.

Six minutes later, Dembele sent in another fine cross with a free-kick, but this time it was Antoine Griezmann's header that was easily tamed by goalkeeper Edgar Badia.

After many wasted chances, Barcelona finally broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when De Jong gave the final touch to Diego Gonzalez's sweeping ball which had headed towards Elche's own goal.

The hosts were close to scoring an instant reply two minutes later when Samuel Umtiti slipped in the Barcelona defensive area, giving Josan Fernandez a chance to stab, unfortunately his finishing shot was stopped by goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen.

Barca's 1-0 lead until halftime was almost doubled by Dembele in the 56th minute when he received a pass from Pedri, but his shot was still saved by Badia.

Barca's hard work continued but again Badia made a brilliant save in the 83rd minute to clear Trincao's shot.

Three minutes later, Badia returned to form with his quick reaction to stop Trincao's header from crossing Griezmann's cross.

Unfortunately, in the 89th minute Badia did not move when Puig, who had only been grazing for Pedri for only two minutes, was able to catch De Jong's cross with a sharp header to strike the ball into the top left corner of the net to complete Barcelona's 2-0 win over Elche.

Elche will play early in the next match on Saturday, January 30 next week when he visits Valencia headquarters, while Barcelona host Athletic Bilbao a day later.

However, before that Barcelona will first play the last 16 match of the Copa del Rey at the second caste team Rayo Vallecano's headquarters on Wednesday, January 27.