Lionel Messi scored twice to help Barcelona overcome an uninspiring first half and beat Elche 3-0 at home in La Liga on Wednesday.
The Catalans created little in one of their worst first-half displays at the Camp Nou this season but found a breakthrough early in the second when Martin Braithwaite released Messi with a classy backheel and the Argentine did the rest.
Barca, who failed to hold onto a narrow lead in Sunday's 1-1 draw at home to Cadiz, got an all-important second goal in the 69th when Frenkie de Jong burst through the middle and laid the ball off for Messi to dribble into the net for an 18th league goal of the season, extending his lead at the top of the scoring charts.
Left back Jordi Alba struck the third goal from another Braithwaite assist to round off a victory which took Barca back above Sevilla and into third in the standings on 50 points, five behind leaders Atletico Madrid but having played a game more.
Barcelona head coach Ronald Koeman was critical of the team's first-half performance, which led to Messi berating his team mates before halftime, but he was pleased with their reaction.
"Everyone could see that we were not playing with enough pace or intensity in the first half and it's good that Messi, as our captain, asked for more intensity. We were very flat," said the coach.
"We wanted to play well but sometimes the opponent makes it tough and we have played a lot of games recently and were tired. We're humans, not machines, and sometimes you play worse than others. But we showed lots of character in the second half."
