Despite going behind in the early half of the game, Barca responded in style and scored twice, both through Antoine Griezmann, picking up three massive points at the misery of the Yellow Submarines.
Barcelona remained alive in the La Liga title race with a comeback victory over Unai Emery’s Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Sunday.
Right from the very beginning, Barca dominated the game with plenty of quick forward passes while creating lots of chances. In the 18th minute, Frenkie De Jong threw the opportunity to draw first blood after his shot from Jordi Alba’s pass was remarkably saved by Sergio Asenjo. A few minutes later, though, Villarreal centre-back Pau Torres released a long ball to Samuel Chukwueze, who went around Marc-André ter Stegen and scored a delightful goal to give Unai Emery’s men the lead in a quick run of play.
But Barça literally didn’t waste a minute, and defender Óscar Mingueza made a similar move; passing the ball over the Villareal’s defence to Antoine Griezmann. The French forward lobbed audaciously and equalized a few seconds later. And seven minutes after that, Griezmann dispatched home a golden opportunity from Juan Foyth’ horror back pass to his goalkeeper.
Already in pressure with two quick responses from their opponents in the first half, Emery’s side started pushing forward, pressing higher up the pitch after the interval. But then Manu Trigueros received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Lionel Messi, and the fortunes of the game changed likewise. Villarreal looked vulnerable and tired in the final twenty minutes of the game but kept attacking, allowing Barcelona to counter. De Jong wasted another great chance to further the lead, but his lob over the keeper went past the post, much to his disbelief.
A sweet victory away from home against a tough opponent, and Ronald Koeman appeared to be confident at the post-match press conference saying,
“Every victory is a step forward. Every match is difficult. We reacted well to their goal, creating chances. We were tired in the final stretch, but we defended well. Sometimes you have to suffer. You can have a good opponent, someone who makes it difficult for you. We weren’t nervous after their goal. In the end it was enough to get a win out of a complicated ground.”
Koeman said.
The result puts Barcelona just two points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who lost 2-1 to Athletic Bilbao later on Sunday. While Real Madrid remain second in the league table with equal points as Barca but the Catalan giants have an extra game in hand.
