Eliminated from the Copa del Rey last Wednesday, Barcelona did not succeed in the match against Villarreal this Saturday. At home in the 22nd round of La Liga, the Catalans suffer another bitter defeat, losing 3-5.
Nothing is going as planned for FC Barcelona this season. After a difficult first half of the season, the club led by Xavi starts the second half with the same struggles: poor results. After losing the Spanish Super Cup to Real Madrid a few days ago, followed by elimination in the Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona settled for a draw that does not help narrow the gap with Real Madrid, the league leaders.
In this match, it was the visitors who started the game with two goals that were disallowed early in the first half. Before the break, Gerard Moreno finally scored the crucial goal (41st minute), giving Villarreal the lead at halftime. After the break, Ilias Akhomach doubled the lead for Marcelino Garcia’s team. Deep in trouble, Barcelona reacted with a goal from Gundogan in the 60th minute. Eight minutes later, the German midfielder provided a perfect assist to Pedri for the equalizer.
By pushing forward, Barcelona even regained the lead with an own goal by Eric Bailly in the 71st minute. However, as always, Xavi’s defense collapsed at the very end of the game with the equalizer from Gonçalo Guedes in the 84th minute. As the match seemed to be heading towards the end, Inaki Pena, the goalkeeper replacing Ter Stegen for the past few weeks, gifted Villarreal a comical goal scored by Alexander Sorloth in the 90+9th minute. In the lengthy injury time, Morales definitively sank Barcelona (90+12th minute).
Defeated, Barcelona remains temporarily in third place with 44 points, 10 points behind Real Madrid, while Villarreal rises to 14th place with 23 points.
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