Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images

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Marcus Rashford came off the bench to round off the scoring as Barcelona moved four points clear at the top of LaLiga with a 3-1 win over Elche at the Estadio Martinez Valero.

The in-form Lamine Yamal put Barca in front early on but Elche, who have not beaten their visitors since 1974, equalised through Alvaro Rodriguez's composed finish in the 29th minute.

Ferran Torres put Barcelona back in front before the interval and second-half substitute Rashford, who came on for Raphinha, netted from close range in the 72nd minute after Adam Boayar wasted a golden chance to draw Elche level again.

Barcelona, who came from behind to beat Copenhagen in midweek and book their spot in the last 16 of the Champions League, gave themselves a cushion over Real Madrid although their arch rivals can narrow the gap back to one point when they take on Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

It seemed like Barcelona would cruise here as Yamal scored for the third game in a row in the sixth minute, the 18-year-old latching on to Dani Olmo's ball through the middle, rounding Iñaki Peña and tucking into an empty net.

Torres drilled wide and Olmo then grazed the crossbar following Yamal's lay-off, but Barcelona were pegged back before the half hour when Rodriguez got in behind Eric García and coolly finished past goalkeeper Joan García.

Barcelona poured forward once more and Torres saw a shot cannon off the crossbar and unwittingly rebound into his face before remarkably hitting the post.

Torres, though, rifled high into the net in the 40th minute after a cutback from Frenkie de Jong, who rounded Elche goalkeeper Pena only to find his route to goal blocked by a couple of covering defenders.

Barcelona's lead was kept to one goal at half-time as a sliding Víctor Chust cleared off the line to deny Torres a second, although Elche showed they remained a threat after the restart as Rodrigo Mendoza had the ball in the back of the net, only to be flagged for offside.

Boayar spurned a glorious chance after blazing over when off-balance, having been teed up by Martim Neto, who showed some deft footwork inside the area before laying the ball off.

It proved a costly miss as Rashford, moments after shooting narrowly wide, fired into the roof of the net following a low cross from Yamal, who did excellently to control a high ball on the right before jinking his way into the area and providing an assist for the England forward.