Barcelona will head into the new year with a healthy four-point lead at the top of the La Liga table thanks to a hard-fought 2-0 win away to Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Sunday afternoon in Barça’s final game of 2025. As is the case with every trip to Villarreal the Blaugrana had to work hard and suffer quite a bit at times even after the Yellow Submarine went down to 10 men, but goals from Raphinha and Lamine Yamal and some big saves by Joan Garcia got the job done and gave Barça three massive points against a direct rival in the title race.
Reactions & Observations
- The story of the first period was Barça creating their own problems: it was alarming to watch just how many times the Blaugrana have the ball away inside their own half, and every single defender as well as goalkeeper Joan Garcia were guilty of multiple bad passes that created chance after chance for Villarreal, and Barça were extremely lucky not to concede thanks in large part to poor finishing by the home team.
- Raphinha won the penalty and scored from the spot to give Barça the lead, and he hit the crossbar with a wonderful effort from distance in what were the only two moments of real danger from the Catalan attack in the period.
- Barça were on the ropes for almost the entire period but got some much-needed relief when Villarreal center-back Renato Veiga was shown a straight red card for a reckless tackle on behind that took out Lamine Yamal.
- Speaking of Lamine, his dribbling in the first half was just amazing to watch. His final product was lacking and he couldn’t create a real chance, but he beat every defender that dared to take him on with relative ease.
- The red card forced Villarreal to change tactics and stop pressing high up the pitch, and the hosts began the second half by giving Barça the ball, sitting in a low block looking to absorb pressure and stay in the game for as long as possible.
- Barça had all of the possession and a couple of good attacking moves but couldn’t create a real chance, so Hansi Flick made a double change at the hour mark as Robert Lewandowski and Marcus Rashford replaced Ferran Torres and Fermín López.
- The two substitutes had an immediate impact and were involved in the buildup to Barça’s second goal, as Frenkie de Jong got the assist and Yamal fired it home after a mad scramble in the box.
- Villarreal had nothing to lose after conceding the second and started to go forward with real intent, and that’s when Joan Garcia shined as the Barça shot-stopper made a couple of monster saves to maintain the two-goal advantage. What a signing.
- Bad news with 10 minutes to go as Jules Kounde was forced off with an injury and had to be replaced by Marc Casadó at right-back.
- Shoutout to Marc Bernal, who came on with just about a half-hour to go and had a very solid outing despite one or two bad passes. He’s slowly but surely regaining his match fitness, and we’re starting to see more and more glimpses of his intelligence, poise and quality on the ball.
- This was not at all comfortable, even after Villarreal went down to 10 men, but Barça still created the better chances and deserved the win. Very few teams will pick up all three points away to Villarreal, and Barça get a big win to stay four points clear at the top to end 2025. Well done, boys!
