Teenager star Lamine Yamar opened the scoring six minutes later, paving the way for Barcelona’s convincing win.

Lamine Yamar scored a goal and created another as Barcelona beat Elche 3-1 on Saturday to extend their lead at the top of La Liga.

Barcelona has 55 points from 22 games, four points ahead of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand. Elche ranks 12th with 24 points from 22 games.

Yamal opened the scoring for the visitors before Alvaro Rodriguez equalized for Elche in the first half.

Goals from Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford sealed victory and saved a wasteful Barca, who had had 30 shots on goal in the game, from shame.

“We got three more points. We continue to grow as a team. We haven’t reached our peak yet,” Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong said.

“We usually have guys who get good results. Sometimes they fail. ⁠What’s important is that we have them (opportunities).”

Yamal sets the tone

Barcelona took the lead inside six minutes when Dani Olmo fired past Yamal and 18-year-old corner goalkeeper Inaki Pena scored his 13th goal of the season in all competitions.

Midway through the first half, Olmo’s shot hit the crossbar, and less than a minute later, Elche equalized the score.

German Valera tucked former Real Madrid striker Rodriguez behind the Barcelona defense and he quickly scored.

The visitors should have regained the lead when Torres hit the crossbar again from six yards out, but sadly missed. The ball bounced back to him and he hit it towards the post in comical fashion.

Torres scored on 40 minutes when De Jong found space in the penalty area and, rather than shooting himself, passed the ball back to the striker and fired in from 15 yards.

The game should have been 3-1 minutes later when Fermin Lopez slid the ball over the crossbar from 6 yards and the goal was empty.

Barcelona continued to create opportunities in the second half. Substitute Rashford shot wide with only the goalkeeper, but unfortunately missed the opportunity.

However, Rashford scored in the 72nd minute when Yamal’s low cross was not cleared by the Elche defense, allowing the England forward to fire the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

“Barcelona’s offense is very good,” Rodriguez said. “They have very good players, but that’s not the case. We’re going to keep trying to do better.”