La Liga: Gordon makes two assists on debut as Barcelona thrash Elche

Anthony Gordon marked his Barcelona debut with two assists in five minutes as the reigning champions defeated Elche 5-0 in their La Liga opener.

The England winger, who joined Barca from Newcastle in the summer, was sent on as a replacement for Lamine Yamal in the 65th minute and provided his first assist by slipping in captain Raphinha after only two minutes on the field.

The 25-year-old, operating on the left wing, then created a second goal only four minutes later after racing through on goal before squaring the ball to Fermin Lopez to finish into an unguarded goal to make it 4-0.

Gordon had registered just two assists for Newcastle in 26 appearances during the 2025-26 Premier League season but was their top scorer with 17 goals across all competitions.

The victory meant Hansi Flick's side began their title defence with win after their rivals Real Madrid also made a winning start at Espanyol on Saturday.

Barca led inside 14 minutes after Raphinha was pulled down inside the box by Victor Chust and the Brazil winger beat the dive of Elche goalkeeper Matias Dituro from the penalty spot.

Elche troubled the Barca defence on occasion in the first half but failed to find an equaliser and fell further behind when Karim Adeyemi doubled the lead right before the interval.

The German winger, also making his debut having signed from Borussia Dortmund, was played through by Raphinha and slotted past Dituro for his first goal in the Blaugrana colours.

The goal, however, came only minutes after they lost midfielder Gavi to an injury with Pedri coming on to replace him.

Yamal, who blazed over an early chance, made way for Gordon in the second half, and the England international created Barca's third and fourth goals, before Lopez sealed the win in the 79th minute.

Barca will return to action against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday, 27 August (20:00 BST).