Barcelona 3-0 Elche: Lewandowski brace takes Blaugrana top of LaLiga

Robert Lewandowski scored a brace as Barcelona beat 10-man Elche 3-0 on Sunday to move to the top of LaLiga.

Memphis Depay was also on target as Xavi Hernandez's side extended their winning run in the league to five games. 

Elche played most of the game a player down after Gonzalo Verdu was sent off for pulling down Lewandowski as he raced clean through. 

Barca temporarily, at least, move top of the league with 16 points from six games, but Real Madrid could return to first place if they beat Atletico on Sunday. 

Xavi once again made changes to face Elche, with Eric Garcia, Alejandro Balde, Frenkie de Jong, Franck Kessie and Memphis all coming into the side. 

Barca were already dominating when Verdu was sent off after just 14 minutes for a high challenge on Lewandowski, who had been played in by a De Jong pass. 

It was one-way traffic from there and Lewandowski opened the scoring with a finish from close range after good work from Pedri and a nice cross from Balde. 

Balde also provided the second for Memphis, who spun and fired home to double Barça's lead at Camp Nou. 

Pedri thought he had made it three before the break but his effort was ruled out for offside by VAR. 

Lewandowski did make it three just after the break, finishing calmly from six yards after Memphis had been denied by Edgar Badia. 

Lewandowski could have completed his hat-trick but was denied by Badia and then shot over. He had to settle for two, taking his tally for the season to 11.