Barcelona beat Villarreal 5-1 with a sumptuous attacking display
Villarreal put in a brave, but ultimately futile performance against an excellent Barcelona side.
A scoreline of 5-1 suggests without context that one side played badly. However, El Submarino Amarillo were simply blown away during parts of this game. They dominated parts of it in terms of chances and possession, but were unable to convert that into goals. Barca made them pay for that mistake. They started the game strongly and finished with a flurry.
Ernesto Valverde opted to use a 4-3-3 formation for this match in order to bring the best out of Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho. It certainly worked as the electric French winger came away with two goals and an assist while the Brazilian scored as well. Coutinho, Nelson Semedo, Paulinho and Yerry Mina all had promising performances as well, which is a good sign for the future.
The energy exerted in El Clasico started to enter their game in the second half, but they saw off the danger and finished strongly to assure victory. This win means that there are only two games left for Barca to make history, and they should both be easier than this one.
First Half
Barcelona started the game patiently with Villarreal mirroring them when they were in possession. However, the Catalans soon found their rhythm with Dembele and Paulinho putting together some nice link up play which led to Messi curling a shot wide. It didn’t take them long to score, though, with Dembele going on a slaloming run; his shot was saved, but Coutinho fired in the rebound.
More from Analysis
- FC Barcelona vs Betis Player Ratings
- How can Xavi unlock Joao Felix for FC Barcelona?
- Where does Joao Cancelo fit for FC Barcelona?
- Three takeaways from Barcelona’s 4-3 win at Villarreal
- Barcelona vs Cádiz Player Ratings from a 2-0 win
The second wasn’t long after with the play prior to scoring again being much better than the goal. Andres Iniesta threaded through a perfectly weighted ball which Lucas Digne passed across for Paulinho to finish. Pablo Fornals had a chance inbetween all this which was saved by Jasper Cillessen, but Villarreal were largely limited. Barca were pressing high up the pitch effectively which was stifling the build-up from the opposition.
There were a number of chances after the second goal for the Blaugrana with the best being a quick break involving Messi and Dembele; the Argentinian played in the winger who dummied past a defender before finishing the one-two, but Messi missed the shot.
The first half was coming to an end relatively comfortably for Barca, but there was still another moment of magic left. Messi kept the ball in a tight space before passing back to Iniesta and making a sharp burst of movement; the magician knew exactly what Messi had planned and chipped a ball over for the Argentine to calmly side-foot volley home and finish the half.
Next: Bartomeu's statements contradicted by Atletico CEO
Second Half
Javier Calleja made a change with Nicola Sansone coming on for Denis Cheryshev and the team had a fresh impetus. They took the game to the home team and carved out multiple openings. This was interspersed with a few half-chances from Barca.
El Submarino Amarillo were eventually rewarded with a Fornals shot being inadvertently heavily deflected in by Sansone. Villarreal deserved the goal even if it was lucky because they had put on sustained pressure and were the better team at the start of the half. The away side pressed high to try and force mistakes from Barcelona with the Catalans limited offensively for stages. However, they held off the pressure and started to look more dangerous with multiple changes for both sides.
One of those changes was Luis Suarez coming on for Iniesta, who received another standing ovation. This performance served as a remainder of the timeless quality he possesses. Barcelona started to slow the game down in order to secure the result. Ivan Rakitic had other ideas, though, after coming on from the bench for Sergio Busquets. He went on a run with multiple defenders looking silly after they tried to tackle him, and he passed across for Dembele to score a tap in.
The talented 20-year-old decided to improve on that with his own mazy run at the end. He picked up the ball near the halfway line and started dribbling straight at three defenders. Some excellent close ball control allowed him to get the past them with Sergio Asenjo rushing off his line, but Dembele was ready as he delicately chipped the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper. It topped off a stunning individual performance from the youngster, which was full of innovation and unpredictability. Although the same could be said for the team’s attacking play.