After receiving a defeat against the Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 2-0 in the UCL 2022-23 group stage clash on Wednesday, FC Barcelona defeated 10-men Elche 3-0 on Saturday in the LaLiga. During the game, Barca defender Ronald Araujo hogged the limelight as he was spotted jumping over the Blaugrana badge to show his respect towards his club.
Elche was reduced to 10 men at the starting 15 minutes into the game after centre-back Gonzalo Verdú was handed a red card. Robert Lewandowski netted the ball twice, while Memphis Depay scored a goal to help their team comfortably win the game.
Araujo has become an integral part of Xavi’s Barcelona as the 23-year-old is a prolific and tireless worker, who can play both as a centre-back or a right back. During the stoppage time at the end of the first half, Araujo was seen chasing a ball down the touchline and realized he was in front of the bench and Barcelona badge. In a respectful moment, he took a giant leap over the badge to avoid stepping on it.
Watch the video here:
Massive Respect @RonaldAraujo_4 ?4??? pic.twitter.com/rgg5kcKcyB
— Barca DNA (@AminuMujahid3) September 17, 2022
Lewandowski opened the account for the Catalan giants scoring the first goal in the 34th minute followed by Memphis Depay’s 41′ strike to make a 2-goal lead. Continuing his good form since leaving Bayern Munich this summer, Lewandowski scored his second goal in the starting 10 minutes of the second half to help Barcelona surpass arch-rivals Real Madrid in the LaLiga standings.
Meanwhile, the defending champions Real Madrid have played five games as compared to Barcelona’s six games and will lock horns with their city rivals Atletico de Madrid late night on Sunday.
The victory took Barca top of the standings with 16 points from six games.Although Real Madrid, on 15, can return to the summit if they manage to win against Madrid on Sunday. Commenting on the win, Barcelona coach Xavi said:
“It was an important win. Elche were very defensive at the start with five at the back, but we also lost the ball too much.”
“In the end, it was a slightly easier game than we expected. It would have been more complicated against 11. After the red card it becomes more positional. We enjoyed ourselves in the second half,” he added.
