A hard-fought 3-1 victory for Barça away at Elche keeps them top of La Liga for another week, regardless of Real Madrid's result. Here are some immediate observations.

Girona's season will be a long one. Just when it seemed the team was rekindling its competitive spirit, this week served as a stark reminder of its fragility: on Wednesday, they were humiliated and eliminated from the Copa del Rey by a Primera RFEF side like Ourense, and today they failed to recover against Elche, where they were tortured and humiliated, suffering another unfortunate defeat (3-0). Míchel's men, for yet another matchday – their fourteenth already – will remain in the relegation zone.

Barça, without fanfare, has done its job and has beaten Elche (3-1) With goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, and Marcus Rashford. Here are some immediate highlights of the match:

It's necessary to be grateful and appreciate life's gifts. Barça needed to start thinking about the future and put the memory of a painful October behind them, and they achieved this in part thanks to an Elche side that, in their quest to be a competitive and ambitious team, opened their home doors wide. And Lamine Yamal and company took full advantage, of course. They needed to bring back the joy at home and secure three points in a special match for Ferran Torres, who, a year after the devastating floods, wanted to remember his fans with a shirt he had prepared. The Valencian player knew the goal would come. And it did.