Villarreal vs Barcelona, La Liga: Final Score 1-5, Barça stay perfect with wild win on the road

Barcelona rebounded quickly from their first defeat of the season against Monaco and remain perfect to begin their La Liga campaign thanks to a wild 5-1 victory over Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Sunday. A game that was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests had absolutely everything, including a gruesome injury for Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, and the Catalans had to show great resilience to endure the difficult moments and great quality to find the necessary goals to earn all three points and remain top of the table with six wins out of six.

FIRST HALF

Hansi Flick made a surprising number of changes to his starting XI after the short turnaround from the match against Monaco, and his rotated side suffered to begin the game as Villarreal dominated the opening 10 minutes.

The home team made a very fast start, pressing high up the pitch and looking to make runs in behind Barça’s high line to create chances. They almost took the lead through Yeremi Pino eight minutes in, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

After a difficult beginning Barça finally had some of the ball and began asserting their control, with Pablo Torre and Pedri finding spaces in midfield and Lamine Yamal being his usual dangerous self on the right wing.

The Blaugrana created three huge chances in a span of 40 seconds with a Yamal shot against the post, a Raphinha effort that was blocked at the goalline and a Pedri shot that went agonizingly wide, and shortly after that flurry they found the lead: Pablo Torre played an amazing through ball to find the run of Robert Lewandowski, and the striker flicked the ball past the keeper to put Barça in front.

The away side was full of confidence after taking the lead, controlling the ball very well and creating real danger with their passing and movement in the final third. And a second goal came to stamp their authority: a cross from Yamal found Eric García at the far post, and after his header was saved Lewandowski scored a mini-bicycle kick to double his own tally as well as Barça’s advantage.

Villarreal responded immediately, however, with a tap-in by Ayoze Pérez after the home team finally managed to beat the offside trap. The game became even more end-to-end after the hosts found the net, and the final minutes of the half were wild as both teams looked for another goal.

Pépé had a monster chance to equalize when he found himself one-on-one with Ter Stegen, but the German keeper made a brilliant save to keep Barça ahead. And then came a gruesome moment: Ter Stegen went up to claim the following corner, fell awkwardly and immediately asked for medical help after appearing to suffer a broken leg. The German was replaced by Iñaki Peña, and Barça needed to somehow recover from the trauma.

Villarreal had a couple of very dangerous chances on crosses in the dying seconds, but somehow didn’t find the net and the halftime whistle came to end an absolutely wild opening period.

Barça somehow had the lead after a truly crazy first half, and needed to clear their heads at the break after watching their captain suffer a horrible injury to maintain their advantage and confirm the win in the second half.

SECOND HALF

Things stayed wild to begin the final period, with Villarreal finding space time and time again in behind Barça’s high line and bringing real danger through Pépé, who had a goal disallowed five minutes in but continued to create big chances for himself and his teammates.

Yeremi hit the bar with a header and Peña made a huge save on a shot by Pépé, and Barça failed completely to have any control of the ball and were very vulnerable at the back. The Catalans looked ready to concede an equalizer at any moment, and could count themselves very lucky to still be ahead 10 minutes into the period.

But the Blaugrana eventually settled down and re-established themselves in the game, having more of the ball and forcing Villarreal to defend deeper as the Catalans slowed down the home team’s momentum and started sending more bodies forward.

And just before the hour mark, came a crucial goal: after a nice passing sequence on the right side Pablo Torre fired a shot from outside the box that deflected off Logan Costa and wrong-footed the keeper, and Barça suddenly had their two-goal lead restored on the road.

Flick made a triple change right after the goal, with Pau Cubarsí, Marc Casadó and Pau Víctor all coming on to add fresh legs to the team while Pedri came off to get some much-needed rest.

Five minutes after that things could have gotten even better, as Barça were given a penalty when VAR called the referee to the screen and he pointed to the spot after watching Eric Bailly bring down Yamal inside the box, but Lewandowski hit the post and couldn’t complete his hat-trick to kill the game off for good.

Barça almost paid for the penalty miss immediately when Thierno Barry headed home a cross from the left, but the substitute was offside and the goal was ruled out to end a bizarre five-minute sequence of events.

There were still 20 minutes remaining and Villarreal had nothing to lose, and sent everyone forward looking for a way back in the game. Instead the home team found themselves three goals down: after Gerard Martín chased the ball down on the left wing and found Pau Víctor inside the box, the youngster passed it to Raphinha who saw his shot deflect off Bailly and go into the net to triple the Blaugrana lead.

The away team was not done and delivered the definitive knockout blow thanks to an absolutely OUTRAGEOUS assist by Yamal, who played a 50-yard pass over the top with the outside of his left foot to find Raphinha, who kicked the ball into the ground and over the keeper to kill off the game for good with one of the goals of the season so far.

Villarreal were quite simply stunned by the way the second half turned out and lost their composure, with Sergi Cardona especially guilty of a cynical and ugly foul on Yamal as the home side looked like very sore losers at the end.

The final whistle came to end the craziest game of the season so far, one that Barça won with resilience, quality and great football at the right times. The defense suffered a lot and the offside trap came agonizingly close to coming apart multiple times, but the attack showed up when it mattered most and delivered the goods to secure the win.

Six wins out of six, and a victory on the road against a good team despite eight absences and three more starters on the bench while the goalkeeper and captain breaks his leg. This game was purely about heart, and Hansi Flick’s troops showed plenty of it today.

Well done, boys!

Villarreal: Conde; Femenía, Bailly, Costa, Cardona; Yeremi (Barry 63’), Comesaña (Terrats 78’), Parejo (Gueye 70’), Baena (Akhomach 78’); Pépé (Denis 78’), Ayoze

Goal: Ayoze (38’)

Barcelona: Ter Stegen (Peña 45+3’); Kounde, Domínguez (Cubarsí 59’), Iñigo (Fort 81’), Martín; Torre (Víctor 59’), Eric, Pedri (Casadó 59’); Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha

Goals: Lewandowski (20’, 35’), Torre (58’), Raphinha (75’, 83’)

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