After Copa Del Rey elimination two days ago, fans were expecting a win from this match since it was also the first home match of 2024. But things didn’t go as the fans wanted. Let’s find out what happened in the match.
[FIRST HALF]
The first half started like it has in the past few matches for Barça, they conceded the goal in the 22nd minute but to fans’ relief it was soon ruled offside. But Villarreal didn’t stop and just before half-time they took the lead. It was a goal by the captain, Gerrard Moreno, with a cross assist from Sørloth in the 41st minute. Villarreal were high on confidence moving in the second half.
[SECOND HALF]
Xavi made three changes at half time with Pedri, Cancelo and Pau Cubarsi coming on but it wasn’t enough as The Yellow Submarine doubled their lead in the 54th minute with a goal from Ilias Akhomach. The goal came after a mistake from Cancelo who misplaced his kick in the path of the goal scorer. Barça were struggling and needed something to chin up, that’s when Gündogan put one past Villarreal defense in the 60th minute to take one back. It was an accidental assist from Lewandowski. And this boosted the confidence so much that they soon equalized with Pedri’s goal in the 68th minute from an assist by Gündogan. Blaugrana were back on level. And Barça didn’t just stop at the equalizer, they were hungry for the win and just three minutes after the equalizer, they took a lead in the 71st minute courtesy of an own goal from Villarreal defender Eric Baily. Everyone thought it was over and Barça were also creating more chances but then in the 84th minute a ball over the defense from Sørloth came out to Goncalo Guedes who scored the equalizer for Villarreal. Barça were looking for a winner and creating chances and even got a penalty awarded in the last minute but it was overturned by VAR. The referee added 8 minutes and they were enough for Villarreal to make a thrilling comeback and score two back to back goals in the injury time. The first goal came from Sørloth who scored in the (90+9)th minute, it was the scrappiest goal one could ever see. But it was the winner. And to add to more suffering of Blaugrana fans, Villarreal went on to score one more in the (90+12)th minute. It was a goal from Morales who scored after an assist from Guedes. And Barça were in shambles. It was a thrilling second half but horrendous one for Barça.
[FINAL WORDS]
Villarreal were clearly the better team today and deserved the win. While Barça keep on dropping their standards. For Villarreal, Sørloth was man of the match with two assists and a goal to his name. While from Barça, Gündogan had one great game and it broke him to be on the losing side. He was the best man on pitch from both sides creating 10 chances, scoring a goal while also assisting one.
Pedri also was looking good and was the second best Barça player after Gündogan.
Barça will play their next match at home against Osasuna on Jan 31st.
