Izuchukwu Okosi
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Pedri showed his Golden Boy trophy off at the Camp Nou and then Barcelona’s other golden boys took over as Xavi’s young team gave their coach his third win in his seven games in charge so far against Elche.
Substitute Nico got the winner with five minutes left of normal time to give Barcelona their 3-2 win.
Gavi set-up the goal and was Barcelona’s best player in a win that showed once more that the only way of the mess they find themselves in is for Barcelona to trust their youngest players.
Two goals in two minutes gave Elche hope of a point at the Camp Nou as Barca suffered a sensational second half collapse from 2-0 up, but Nico struck on 85 minutes to spare the Catalans’ blushes.
It took Barcelona just 16 minutes to open the scoring with Ferran Jutgla finding the back of the net on his first La Liga start, glancing a header into the far corner of the opposition net from a corner kick.
And the hosts doubled their advantage moments later when Gavi netted a wonderful individual effort, picking up the ball 30 yards from goal and firing in off the inside of the post.
However, the match completely changed the space of two minutes in the second half as goals from Tete Morente and Pere Milla drew Elche level with Barcelona left exposed in defence.
Barca pressed for a third goal to regain the lead and made the breakthrough when Nico found the roof of the Elche net after good work by Ousmane Dembele and Gavi down the left wing.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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