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Barcelona’s hopes of winning again the league titles have come to an end in disastrous fashion thanks to a 5-3 defeat against Villarreal in the Montjuic Olympic Stadium on Saturday night. Barça played a terrible first half, dominated most of the second and completed an impressive comeback after trailing by two goals, but somehow conceded three times after the 84th minute and were hurt by a couple of terrible refereeing decisions. on the way to an inexplicable defeat that leaves them 10 points behind leaders Real Madrid and ends a difficult week on a bitter note.
FIRST HALF
Villarreal coach Marcelino García Toral had a very clear game plan: sit back, absorb the pressure, frustrate Barça, score on the counter against a vulnerable defense. The plan worked perfectly throughout the half, and the Yellow Submarine could have taken the lead after three minutes if it weren’t for a successful offside by Álex Baena.
The visitors maintained their strategy and scored again when Gerard Moreno won the ball after a scramble in the area and found the back of the net, but for the second time in 20 minutes the goal was disallowed this time thanks to his strike partner Alexander. Sorloth who was offside blocked Ronald Araujo’s attempt to challenge Gerard’s shot.
They continued to defend well and chose the right moments to break quickly the other way, and the third time was the charm: Alexander Sorloth’s cross found Gerard alone on the edge of the area and the Villarreal captain fired a magnificent shot into the area. Lower corner. It took 40 minutes and three attempts, but the visitors finally got a lead they deserved for their well-organized and efficient performance in the first half.
Barça, on the other hand, was a disaster: blaugrana They were slow and apathetic in their movements in the opposition half and wasted countless promising attacks with poor touches and passes in the final third, and only Lamine Yamal and João Félix came close to creating danger with long-range shots that were saved by Filip Jorgensen.
At half-time Barça was lucky to only be within one goal and needed to play much better to have a chance of coming back in the second half.
SECOND HALF
Xavi Hernández saw his team’s problems at half-time and made a rare triple substitution at half-time with Pau Cubarsí, Pedri and the returning João Cancelo, with Pedri and Cancelo tasked with giving the team more variety of passes and a better final product in the match. last third.
The Catalans looked more intense and moved the ball faster early in the period and should have had a penalty after seven minutes when Yamal was brought down in the area by Eric Bailly, but the referee and VAR decided not to award it.
Two minutes after a very strong penalty was missed, Barça found themselves two goals behind: a long ball from behind poorly controlled by Cancelo allowed Ilias Akhomach to run freely through the center and surround Iñaki Peña before doubling the score. visitor advantage. It was a serious mistake by the side who apologized to his teammates and the public, and which put Barça in a very complicated situation with just over 30 minutes left plus stoppage time.
Xavi returned to the bench and sent on his fittest player, Ferran Torres, and the Spaniard made an instant impact as he was involved in the build-up to the match. blaugranaFerran’s first goal: Ferran’s direct pass into the box deflected off Robert Lewandowski and fell perfectly to Ilkay Gündogan, who curled a beautiful turn into the bottom corner and gave the home team a chance to come back as we reached the hour mark.
Ferran almost equalized shortly after the first goal when a sensational sequence of passes through the middle ended with a possible assist from Gündogan to find Torres alone inside the area, but the striker was unable to make enough contact with the ball and saw his I try to go dying. broad.
Barça did not stop and continued to press, and it did not take them long to find the equalizer: Yamal faced their defense on the right wing and found Gündogan in a very good position to shoot but the German could not clear but the rebound fell perfectly to Pedri , who fired a rocket with his left foot to make it 2-2 and give Barça a real chance to win.
And the comeback came just three minutes later: after Cancelo won a free kick on the left wing, Gündogan’s cross into the area overlooked Ronald Araujo’s attempted header but hit Bailly, who scored an own goal and He put Barça ahead in the 20th minute.
He blaugrana He had completely turned the game around just as Marcelino made two defensive changes, and the Villarreal coach was trying to quickly correct course to attempt a late comeback while Xavi brought on Vitor Roque looking to seal the victory and secure the points.
Roque had a great chance to finally score his first Barça goal after a wonderful pass from Gündogan that left him one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but the Brazilian’s shot went straight to Jorgensen, who made an important save. Jorgensen made another great save on a Cancelo shot that was deflected by Roque and required a quick reaction from the goalkeeper, and it seemed that Barça’s fourth goal was a matter of time.
Then, a bad pass from Gündogan sparked a quick counterattack for the visitors, and the ball found Gonçalo Guedes, who fired a rocket that beat Iñaki Peña and into the bottom corner. Barça only had five minutes plus injury time to find a winning goal, and the Catalans had all the ball as they tried to create one more golden opportunity.
That golden opportunity came in the 90th minute when Gündogan’s shot hit Santi Comesaña’s arm and the referee awarded a penalty. But the VAR called the referee to the monitor to review his decision and José Luis Munuera Montero annulled the penalty after a long look at the screen.
The Catalans were desperate and angry after the disallowed penalty and rushed forward looking for a late goal, but instead saw the three points slip away: a comedy of errors at the back initiated by Ronald Araujo that ended with a weak attempt to Iñaki Peña recovered the ball and allowed Sorloth to find a way to put the ball home.
Three minutes later, after Araujo missed a great opportunity at the other end, Villarreal went on the counterattack and José Luis Morales scored the visitors’ fifth of the night to seal the match.
The final whistle came to end a horrible night for Barça, who suffered their worst and most costly defeat of the season. They cost themselves the victory with their apathetic attack in the first half and their terrible defense throughout the night, but the terrible refereeing decisions did not help either. It was an all-around disaster and despite a terrible defensive performance from Villarreal himself, they somehow found a way to win.
This hurts and is difficult to explain. Truly a night to forget.
Barcelona: Grief; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen (Cubarsí 46′), Fort (Cancelo 46′); Gündogan, Romeu (Pedri 46′), De Jong; Yamal, Lewandowski (Roque 77′), Félix (Ferrán 58′)
Goals: Gündogan (60′), Pedri (68′), Bailly (71′)
Villarreal: Jorgensen; Femenía (Mosquera 78′), Bailly, Cuenca, Moreno (Mandi 71′); Akhomach (Guedes 58′), Comesaña, Coquelin, Baena (Capoue 71′); Sorloth, Gerard (Morales 78′)
Goals: Gerard (41′), Akhomach (54′), Guedes (84′), Sorloth (90+9′), Morales (90+12′)
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