Villarreal 1-4 Barcelona: La Liga – how it happened | Football

Anyway … what an exciting night in Barcelona showing what they are capable of, something they have shown very rarely this year. More of the same from now on, please. Thanks for joining me and good night.

Pique: “The three points are very important. The game was important to us and the way we play. We have had moments when we have not played well, but today we played well. We have to continue like this for the rest of the season.

“Antoine’s goal is very important to give him confidence.

“We are going to continue fighting to change the situation and playing for this club means fighting until the end.”

An excellent performance from the first semester of Barcelona put them in the driver’s seat and they should not be moved. Villarreal slowed things down in the second half, but they were never really against a Barcelona team that showed how good they could be.

90 + 2 minutes: Messi is knocked down outside the area, giving him the perfect opportunity to launch a free kick on goal. He hits the bar and then Braithwaite leads the rebound in goal, but Asenjo goes back to deflect it.

89 minutes: Andrea Orlandi in communications just reminded me of the existence of Ousmane Dembele. That is good.

Alba lifts the ball down the line to Ansu Fati, who enters the area and then shoots from 18 yards. She takes off Albiol’s legs and ends up in the corner, having Asenjo with her feet wrong.

85 minutes: Not surprisingly, after 10 substitutions the game has lost a little bit of shine.

81 minutes: Everyone is highly hydrated for the last 10 minutes.

Messi, high up in the water, selects Braithwaite in the box. The striker tries to surround the goalkeeper, but Asenjo remains nervous and forces the Dane to shoot him directly.

77 minutes: Chukwueze picks up the ball after Braithwaite is dispossessed, brings it to the box and launches a low boost into the goal, but Ter Stegen goes down well and clings to the ball.

Now we have a very late drink break.

75 minutes: Alba once again enters from the left, but her cross is cleared for a corner before Braithwaite can reach the end.

After a long delay, the goal is annulled for offside.

It is all Barcelona in this half. The style change has made it more congested in midfield, which means that the visitors are playing a bit more. This time around, Puig’s good work carries the ball forward, before Sergi Roberto slides to the right, allowing him to pull back so Messi calmly finds the corner from eight yards.

67 minutes: Messi sends a delicious 50-yard ball for Rakitic to chase, picks it up and finds Vidal in space, but his low shot is rejected by Asenjo. The ball returns directly to Villarreal, ending with Alba taking the ball from Messi, but his handling is also blocked by the goalkeeper.

65 minutes: Messi is rubbing his toes because something seems to irritate him. Hopefully I can continue.

Griezmann, Bruno and Albiol collide. It seemed painful but everyone gets up.

63 minutes: Messi slides the ball towards Griezmann, but his dangerous crossing fails to find the rushing Puig, as Villarreal clears.

Puig makes an incredible dive to try and win a free kick from Albiol. Don’t be a pitcher, buddy.

61 minutes: Suárez and Semedo leave, with Puig and Rakitic on the way. Sergi Roberto returns to the right side.

59 minutes: Suarez goes beyond the defense thanks to a perfect pass from Vidal, but the Uruguayan is delayed by hitting Griezmann, instead of holding on to the ball and hitting his shot against the lateral net of Asenjo’s fingertips.

57 minutes: Trigueros replaces Cazorla. He showed some nice touches tonight, but he was able to show the influence he wanted.

Chukwueze intercepts a terrible pass from Semedo through the back, but the winger gives a bad touch and passes to Ter Stegen. The winger complains that Lenglet stopped him but the referee disagrees.

55 minutes: The change in formation of Villarreal’s formation seems to have eliminated part of the game and seems a little slower. Barcelona are happy to keep possession as long as possible.

53 minutes: Griezmann combines with Messi as the Frenchman descends a cross in the path of his teammate, who takes a volley that is placed in Asenjo’s arms.

51 minutes: Messi tries to run from the middle of the line, but he quickly moves and strips, since now they all play in the center of the field.

49 minutes: There is an extra man in the middle of the field for Villarreal and he has gotten quite congested in the center of the park. Barcelona may need to adjust its plan.

47 minutes: No goals or opportunities in the first two minutes of the second period. Pathetic.

Let’s hope more of the same.

Moi Gómez and Bruno are in Villarreal. Fortunately, Gerard Moreno is gone, which solves a problem. Iborra is also out.

Jordi Gómez Suay correctly points out that I am an idiot: “Alcoyano is a humble team from the south of the Valencian community, with a short season in Primera in the 1940s. It is mainly remembered for the expression “Alcoyano’s morals” (morals in the sense of faith, optimism).

“One of the legends about the origin of the expression is that they had a player who would kick a corner and run into close combat in the box.

“We can think that Barça is playing Alcoyano if you don’t start distinguishing Alberto Moreno and Gerard Moreno.”

This concert is not easy!

Which objective was better? Suarez or Griezmann?

I’ll go with the last one.

This is definitely the best game in the world after reboot. Barcelona has been absolutely incredible and nobody in the world could face them playing at this level. More of the same please after the break.

WHAT A GOAL! Messi takes the ball from Griezmann, then seeks to jump inside the box, stops to return it to the Frenchman, who rips the ball from the edge of the box over the goalkeeper to the upper corner. That was really sublime.

42 minutes: Suarez has two incredible possibilities of making it 3-1, while Alba enters from the left again. He plays with the Uruguayan, whose first shot is blocked and the second saved. Oh, they were both offside. Anyway, I am not wasting this entry.

40 minutes: This game has been completely unforgiving. I’m tired of looking, possibly because I haven’t had a day off in the past three weeks.

This time, Moreno sends the ball to Chukwueze, who sends a cross that Ter Stegen calmly claims.