The Spanish giant FC Barcelona won against Villarreal last night at El Madrigal, home of Villarreal. Frankie de Jong, Memphis Depay, and Philipe Coutinho scored in this match for Barcelona. With this win, Barcelona have climbed up to 7th place on the table. But they are still seven points behind the table topper, Real Madrid.
Match Review
Barcelona’s new manager Xavi Hernandez set up his team with the formation of classical 4-3-3. He played the Spanish young lad Gavi and Abde Ezzalzouli along with Memphis Depay in the front. On the other side, Villarreal manager Unai Emery played his team in the formation of 4-4-2.
As a home team, Villarreal had a massive crowd last night at the stadium. They kept more possession on the ball than the visitors. Villarreal took 14 shots in the entire match, while Barcelona took 12.
However, both Barcelona and Villarreal could not score a single goal in the first half. So the first half ended in 0-0. But returning from the break, Barcelona desperately tried to find the net. In the 48th minute, Barcelona scored the first goal of the match. Midfielder Frankie de Jong scored that goal. Although it looked offside, the match referee gave the goal to Barcelona after checking the VAR.
Villarreal, however, equalized with the goal from Samuel Chukwueze in the 78th minute. It seemed the match would end in a draw. But, Barca’s summer signing Memphis Depay, gave the lead to Barcelona. He scored a fantastic goal in the 88th minute.
Moreover, Villarreal defender Juan Foyth fouled Philipe Coutinho inside the box. As a result, Barcelona got a penalty in the extra time. Memphis Depay is the penalty taker of Barcelona, but he gave it to Coutinho. Anyway, Coutinho didn’t make any mistake to score. So after 90 minutes, Barcelona won the match by 3-1 and climbed up to the 7th.
Reactions
Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez said that Villarreal deserve to win this match. But he is happy to have three points from this match as well. Xavi said,
They’re three golden points. The victory is Holy Water in our position. Villarreal didn’t deserve to lose, that’s the reality, but you also have to have luck. We played against a great team, a Champions League team and we suffered. We have to value this victory. I think we should be really happy and celebrate it.