Warning to Real Madrid: Barcelona beat Elche 5-0 as Adeyemi and Gordon get off to a brilliant start in La Liga | OneFootball

Barcelona clubbed Elche 5-0 to get their La Liga title defence up and running. The Catalan giants made an easy meal of their opponents in a rampant display.

Raphinha opened the scoring with a penalty that he won and set up Karim Adeyemi to double the lead on his debut just before the half-time break.

Anthony Gordon came on as a substitute and assisted Raphinha’s second, then set up Fermin Lopez’s second when he could have shot for himself.

Lopez, who has returned from the injury that forced him to miss the 2026 World Cup, is looking immaculate again this season.

The Spaniard produced a wonderful turn to get past one defender and scored his second, Barca’s fifth.

Elche barely had a sniff. They did hit the post in the 68th minute and had another great chance that Joan Garcia smothered moments later. Beyond that, Barcelona proved too overwhelming.

Barcelona have won three of the last four La Liga titles available, and playing like this, no one can stop them.

If they manage to add a top-class centre-half and striker to the roster, they might be unstoppable. Lamine Yamal hasn’t even hit top form.

It is quite the message for Real Madrid, who laboured to a 2-1 win over Espanyol and Atletico Madrid, as they played a 2-2 draw with Villarreal.

Barcelona will take some stopping this season.

They can brush teams aside without leaving gear one, and the Madrid giants will need to do something special to prevent them from keeping their crown.

Barca manager Hansi Flick has built a well-oiled machine that has started a very gallant march towards another title.

It is still too early to say. Injuries, the search for a Champions League title (which they haven’t won since 2015), and other factors might derail them.

However, if Barcelona maintain this level while strengthening in the positions they still want to address, they could prove an irresistible force in Spain once again.