If there wasn’t already enough pressure on Barca, rivals Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Las Palmas earlier in the afternoon meant Xavi’s side kicked off here 10 points behind the new La Liga leaders. There were early signs they weren’t up to the challenge, particularly with two disallowed goals for the visiting team in the space of 22 minutes.
The first was put into the net from a tight angle by Alex Baena from a clear offside position, whereas eyebrows were raised as to why the second did not stand. VAR deemed Baena, attempting an acrobatic effort, to have fouled Jules Kounde before Gerard Moreno picked up the pieces and fired home, so the game remained goalless.
From Villarreal’s perspective, decisions against them meant they ran the risk of a sucker punch against an opponent that had bested them in eight of the last nine H2H meetings. However, goals either side of HT helped to finally assert their dominance.
The opener was clinically put away by Moreno into the top left corner, hitting the ball first-time from strike partner Alexander Sorloth’s low cross. A cushion was then added after the break courtesy of Ilias Akhomach, who capitalised on substitutes Pau Cumbarsi and Joao Cancelo’s failure to deal with a long ball upfield to round Inaki Pena and slot into an empty goal.
Heading into the final half-hour, Barça knew that they would need to turn this match into a thriller similar to their 4-3 victory in the reverse fixture back in August in order to get out of the mess they created, and out of nowhere, one by one, the goals arrived.
First, İlkay Gundogan finished off a sweeping team move - providing a source of inspiration for his team-mates. Pedri then arrived off the bench to level proceedings, picking out the bottom right corner inside the penalty area. Finally, only 17 minutes after conceding their second, La Blaugrana found themselves 3-2 up when Eric Bailly diverted Gundogan’s free-kick beyond his own goalkeeper.
In truth, this only opened the door for Villarreal to emulate their opponents in the aforementioned reverse fixture, and it was they who broke hearts at the death to put a four-game winless streak on their travels to bed.
Goncalo Guedes levelled in the 84th minute, and just as it looked like the points would be shared, Alexander Sorloth and Jose Luis Morales stunned the hosts with goals deep into stoppage time, flipping the script once again to hand Marcelino’s men a stunning 5-3 victory.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alexander Sorloth (Villarreal)
