Barcelona in the majority defeats Villarreal (2:0)
The Catalans took the lead early in the match. Raphinha confidently converted the penalty, sending the keeper and the ball in opposite directions. After conceding, the hosts grabbed the initiative and even scored, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Towards the end of the first half, the yellow submarine was left with ten men — Veiga let his team down. The Portuguese defender came in hard from behind on Lamin’s Achilles.
In the second half, the visitors, playing with an extra man, doubled their lead. After a real chaos in Villarreal’s penalty area, the ball fell to Yamal. The winger, in the style of the legendary Ronaldinho, fired it into Reis’s net.
In the end, the blaugranas pretty much comfortably beat Villarreal and head into the New Year’s break as league leaders, four points ahead of Real Madrid.
Recall that the Villarreal — Barcelona match was supposed to take place in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. However, due to a player protest, La Liga bosses had to scrap the idea.
Villarreal — Barcelona 0:2
Goals: Raphinha, 12 (pen.), Yamal, 63
Villarreal: Júnior Reis — Cardona, Marín, Veiga, Navarro — Moleiro, Parejo (Masia, 75), Comesaña, Buchanan — Pepe (Oluwaseyi, 75), Pérez (Mikaoutadze, 65)
Barcelona: J. García — Koundé (Casado, 79), Cubarsí, Martín, Balde — E. García (Bernal, 66), de Jong, Fermín (Rashford, 63) — Yamal, F. Torres (Lewandowski, 62), Raphinha
Warnings: Buchanan, 73 — E. García, 58
Red card: Veiga, 39
