Barcelona’s season started a week later than everyone else’s, and their first game produced five goals at Elche
Raphinha and Fermin Lopez scored twice each and Karim Adeyemi opened his account as Barcelona began the defence of their title with a 5-0 win at Elche.
Aug 24, 2026
Barcelona did not play a league game until Sunday night. When they finally did, they scored five.
Raphinha and Fermin Lopez took two each and Karim Adeyemi got his first for the club in a 5-0 win at Elche, a week after the rest of La Liga had started without them. Hansi Flick’s side are chasing a third straight title. Their first 90 minutes of the season did not look like a team carrying much rust.
How the five goals came
Raphinha opened from the penalty spot in the 14th minute. Adeyemi, signed from Borussia Dortmund in July for an initial 22 million euros, made it 2-0 three minutes into first-half stoppage time. Raphinha added his second in the 67th, and then Fermin Lopez scored twice inside eight minutes, in the 71st and the 79th, the first of them laid on by Anthony Gordon.
Elche had opened their own season with a draw away at Deportivo. This was a different afternoon entirely.
Why Barcelona started a week after everyone else
Spain won the World Cup on 19 July, beating Argentina in the final, and eight Barcelona players were involved in it. The Spanish federation allowed clubs with players in the semi-finals or the final to push their opening fixture back to 25, 26 or 27 August. Barcelona and Real Madrid both qualified for the exemption.
The result is a slightly odd bit of bookkeeping. Sunday at Elche was Barcelona’s first match of the season, but La Liga counts it as matchday two. Their official opener, at home to Athletic Bilbao, is on Thursday. Real Madrid are in the same position, having played at Espanyol on 22 August before their rescheduled first fixture against Real Sociedad.
The champions have not gone anywhere
Last season Barcelona finished on 94 points and sealed the title with three games to spare, beating Real Madrid 2-0 on 10 May to do it. They won all 19 of their home league matches, the first side to manage that since La Liga moved to a 38-game format. It was a 29th championship and a second in a row under Flick.
The squad that won it has been added to rather than rebuilt. Gordon arrived from Newcastle in May for an initial 70 million euros. Adeyemi followed in July, bought for pace and for pressing, from a coach who handed him his Germany debut.
One away win settles nothing in August. But Barcelona spent a week watching everyone else play and answered with five goals, and Athletic Bilbao on Thursday will be a better guide to how the next nine months look.