With Xavi looking down from above, still under suspension, Barça looked to start a winning streak against the team from Castellón. If anyone was expecting a nice, quiet game from the third matchday of the La Liga season (why would you?) this certainly wasn’t it. FC Barcelona vs Villareal CF has historically been a matchup that’s resulted in plenty of goals, and this one was no different. Barça looked much more dangerous going forward against Villareal, scoring 4, but the home team didn’t sit still either, scoring 3 goals of their own. It was an up-and-down game, to be sure – but how did each player perform today? Let’s take a look.
Goalkeeeper
Marc-André ter Stegen – 6.5
It may feel odd to give a passing grade to a keeper that allowed 3 goals, but ter Stegen also had three massive saves in the first half to keep Barça in the game when Villareal came storming back. It’s always important to be able to keep goalkeeper play in context. He couldn’t have done anything to save the three goals. They were the result more of poor defense than of any shortcomings the German keeper showed. He wasn’t asked to play out from the back much today, but he was fine there too.