FULL-TIME, Barcelona 3-5 Villarreal: A disastrous defeat filled with terrible defending, awful mistakes and two horrible refereeing decisions that had a major impact on the result. Barça are 10 points off the top and pretty much out of the title race, and a tough week ends with one of their most painful losses of the season.
90+12’ GOAL, Barcelona 3-5 Villarreal (Morales): Villarreal confirm the three points on the counter-attack as José Luís Morales receives the ball with space inside the box and finds the bottom corner to clinch the victory.
90+9’ GOAL, Barcelona 3-4 Villarreal (Sorloth): Villarreal win it at the death after a scamble in the box ends with Alexander Sorloth finding a way to poke the ball into the net after a mistake by Ronald Araujo and another by Iñaki Peña.
90’ PENALTY REVERSED: A cross from the left falls to Gündogan who tires to fire it back across, but the ball hits Santi Comesaña’s right arm and the referee points to the spot. But VAR calls the referee over to the monitor and the decision is reversed after a very long look.
84’ GOAL, Barcelona 3-3 Villarreal (Guedes): Villarreal equalize. A bad pass from Gündogan starts a counter-attack and the ball finds Gonçalo Guedes who fires it past Iñaki Peña and into the bottom corner.
71’ GOAL!!! Barcelona 3-2 Villarreal (Bailly OG): BARÇA TAKE THE LEAD!!! The comeback is complete in just 10 minutes as Gündogan sends a free-kick into the box and Eric Bailly scores against his own net!!!
68’ GOAL!!! Barcelona 2-2 Villarreal (Pedri): BARÇA EQUALIZE!!! Lamine Yamal takes on a defender on the right wing and finds Gündogan who can’t sort his feet out, but the ball falls perfectly to Pedri who fires a rocket with his weaker left foot and makes it all square!
60’ GOAL!!! Barcelona 1-2 Villarreal (Gündogan): BARÇA ARE BACK IN IT! A quick response to Villarreal’s second goal comes courtesy of a pass from Ferran Torres that deflects off Robert Lewandowski and falls perfectly to Ilkay Gündogan, who uses his weaker left foot to curl a beauty into the bottom corner!
54’ GOAL, Barcelona 0-2 Villarreal (Akhomach): Villarreal double the lead. A long ball from the back is poorly controlled by João Cancelo, which allows Ilias Akhomach to run free towards goal, round Iñaki Peña and pass the ball onto an open net to score against his former club.
SECOND HALF KICKOFF! Barcelona 0-1 Villarreal: Back underway at Montjuïc!
HALFTIME, Barcelona 0-1 Villarreal: Barça looked tired and lacking ideas throughout the half despite a few good moments thanks to Lamine Yamal’s youthful energy and brilliance. Villarreal defended well and scored three times, but two correct offside calls give them only a one-score lead at the break. Barça can still win it, but they need a lot of improvement in the second half.
41’ GOAL, Barcelona 0-1 Villarreal: Third time’s the charm. Villarreal finally take the lead as a cross from Sorloth from the left wing finds Gerard who fires a first-time shot into the bottom corner to put the visitors in front.
22’ GOAL DISALLOWED: Gerard Moreno finds the back of the net for Villarreal after a mad scramble in the box, but the goal is ruled out for an offside by Alexander Sorloth who used his body to block Ronald Araujo while in an offside position to allow Gerard to score.
3’ GOAL DISALLOWED: Villarreal take the lead as Álex Baena fires a rocket into the back of the net inside the box, but the midfielder was clearly offside and the goal is correctly ruled out by the linesman.
KICKOFF! Barcelona 0-0 Villarreal: And we’re underway at Montjuïc!!!
WELCOME TO THE MONTJUÏC OLYMPIC STADIUM!!! The beautiful temporary home of the world’s greatest club in the capital of Catalonia opens its doors for the first time in 2024 for a Barcelona match as the defending La Liga champions welcome Villarreal for a high-profile league clash. Barça come into this one after a painful Copa del Rey exit looking for three points to stay within touching distance of the two teams at the top, but it won’t be easy after an emotionally taxing 120 minutes in Bilbao and having to face a well-coached Yellow Submarine also in desperate need of a result to avoid the threat of relegation. This should be fun, and you’re welcome to join us to follow and comment all the action. Vamos!
(Note: the comments will be open only when the team news come out, because our commenter people love commenting and sometimes there are too many comments in the comments section)
LINEUPS
BARCELONA
Starting XI: Peña; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Fort; Gündogan, Romeu, De Jong; Yamal, Lewandowski, Félix (4-3-3)
Substitutes: Astralaga (GK), Kochen (GK), Cubarsí, Cancelo, Casadó, Pedri, Fermín, Ferran, Roque, Guiu
VILLARREAL
Starting XI: Jorgensen; Femenía, Bailly, Cuenca, Moreno; Akhomach, Coquelin, Comesaña, Baena; Moreno, Sorloth (4-4-2)
Substitutes: Álvarez (GK), Mosquera, Capoue, Guedes, Trigueros, Morales, Mandi, Altimira
MATCH INFO
Competition/Round: 2023-24 La Liga, Matchday 22
Date/Time: Saturday, January 27, 2024, 6.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 5.30pm GMT (UK), 12.30pm ET, 9.30am PT (USA), 11pm IST (India)
Venue: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Montjuïc, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero
VAR: Santiago Jaime Latre
HOW TO WATCH
On TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Viaplay Sports 2 (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), Sports18 (India), TSN 4 (Canada), Not Available (Spain), others
Online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), DAZN (Spain), others
Matchday Thread Rules
We don’t have a lot of rules here, but there are a few things to keep in mind when joining our matchday threads:
Even if the referee sucks or we lose the game, watch the swearing. It’s just unnecessary. Also, don’t discuss illegal streaming links. Those who do it will be warned, and those who post links will be instantly banned. Finally, be nice to each other. This is a Barcelona community and we don’t need to offend one another.
Have fun with the game! Forever and ever, no matter the competition, VISCA EL BARÇA!
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
