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Barcelona kicked off their 2014/15 La Liga campaign with a 3-0 win over Elche at the Camp Nou.
This was Luis Enrique’s first game in charge of the Catalan club and it almost turned into a nightmare when Javier Mascherano was sent off just before half time for fouling Garry Rodriguez when he was the last defender.
Munir El Haddadi, Rafinha and Lionel Messi started up front for the Blaugrana – all three La Masia graduates – with Luis Suarez banned until October and Neymar still not completely fit.
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Barcelona 1-0 Elche: Messi (43’)
Messi opened the scoring with a sublime piece of skill. After receiving the ball just outside the box with his back to goal, his first touch took the ball away from the defender while he wheeled around to enter the box and take the shot with his favoured left foot.
Barcelona 2-0 Elche: Munir (46’)
The 18-year-old enthralled the crowd at the Camp nou with his skill and he scored the second in the 46th minute after a beautiful chip over the defence from Ivan Rakitic. Munir found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat and slotted it home into the left corner with his left foot.
Barcelona 3-0 Elche: Messi (64’)
Messi doubled the lead and his tally in the second half with another solo effort. Dani Alves found the Argentine forward in the centre as he skipped into the box, dragging the defenders with him. But he immediately cut back in with his left foot, feinted once to beat a third defender before curling a low shot past the goalkeeper who didn’t move.
Black cat invades Camp Nou pitch
Play was stopped for a while when a black cat invaded the pitch in the first half, just after the game had started. It was chased down by stewards who had a tough time trying to get it off the pitch. Although, it did not bring Barcelona any bad luck as they went on to win 3-0 and claim all three points.
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