The Barça improved in the second half but could not increase the lead

Miralem Pjanic made his debut and Ronald Koeman's team looked for the flanks to open the game, with Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembélé standing out in this aspect. Despite that, Barça went from bad to good, improved in the second half, but couldn't increase the lead on the scoreboard.

Most likely, the starting eleven that Koeman put on the field will be the one he has in mind for the opening of the Championship. True to a 4-2-3-1 formation, which has been unusual at Barça in recent times, his team started strong, but gradually faded away.

He got Ansu Fati back, who shared a line behind Messi with Coutinho and Griezmann. The lineup looked good and so did the game at the beginning, although Barça's brilliance only lasted for fifteen minutes against a very weak opponent.

The goal came very early, with Jordi Alba making a run on the left and assisting Griezmann in the 2nd minute. Barça pressed high, quickly recovered the ball, but their game was quite flat.

After a run by De Jong from the second line in the 16th minute, a play very well resolved by Edgar Badia, the blaugranas remembered the unconvincing team that ended the season with many doubts.

Elche's goalkeeper was also the protagonist with a great save on a free-kick taken by Leo Messi (22nd minute), while Coutinho was the one who tried the most.

Elche only tried through Morente (24th minute), but had no problems progressing towards Neto's goal, who started today due to Ter Stegen's injury.

With Messi having full freedom of movement in attack, the blaugranas played mainly on one flank. They focused the game on the side of Alba and Sergi Roberto hardly ventured forward on the right, but chances were scarce, despite the dominance of the Catalans.

At the start of the second half, with the same players on both teams, the script repeated itself. Barça came out strong and had two great chances for the 2-0 in four minutes.

In the first one, Ansu Fati failed to convert after a great cross from Sergi Roberto; in the next one, Edgar Badía was once again successful in a one-on-one against Leo Messi, who was injured in the action due to Josema's tackle.

Unlike the first half, Koeman's team had more continuity and more presence in attack, but lacked accuracy or faced a very effective Elche goalkeeper, who was by far the best player on Jorge Almirón's team.

The Elche goalkeeper made great saves on Griezmann, Ansu, and Messi. Then, he saved another one from Dembélé, who entered in the 63rd minute along with Trincao and Pjanic, and one more from Trincao, assisted by Coutinho.

But Barça did not score again and in Elche's only chance, they could have equalized with a play by Tete Morente on the right and a close-range shot by Diego Bri, which Neto saved.

In the end, Koeman's team won in the last test. The next test will not be an experiment with soda anymore, but the league debut against Villarreal.