Sunday’s fixture at Villarreal was always going to guarantee goals.
Here are two teams that enjoy playing free-flowing, attacking football, and, come what may, neither Marcelino nor Hansi Flick is going to be dissuaded from playing any other way.
The Blaugranes had scored in 37 matches before this one, their best run since 2013, whilst the Yellow Submarine had already earned a best-ever points total at this stage of the season.
Not to mention that the last four games had finished 3-2 and 5-3 to Villarreal, as well as 5-1 and 4-3 to Barcelona.
Uniquely, all four wins were for the away side, and the visitors might’ve fancied their luck this time, not having lost away at Villarreal since October 2007 in La Liga.
Though Barca would stay top of the league for Christmas, whatever happened on Sunday, the Yellow Submarine had the carrot of knowing that if they could get all three points, it would bring them to within five of their opponents.
Lose, and they’d have to claw back 11 points just to draw level with the Catalans.
Let’s take a look at three talking points from the match…
Lack of quality in the first half
It’s not clear why, but Barca’s passing was completely off in the first half.
The ball was given away on five separate occasions before 15 minutes had been played, and two of those giveaways almost resulted in Ayoze Perez giving Villarreal the lead.
That they didn’t shouldn’t be overlooked, and nor should the basic errors such as Alejandro Balde’s unbelievably poor back pass.
In a game in which the Blaugranes will have known that they could put 11 points between them and Villarreal with a win, that sort of tardiness in possession isn’t acceptable.
Raphinha leads by example… again
Is the Brazilian Barcelona’s most important player? Quite possibly. He’s certainly one of the most decisive.
What sets Raphinha apart is his work rate and application, as well as the goals he scores in important matches. His beautiful curling effort in the first half deserved a goal too,
He always steps up in every aspect of play, and though not captain on the day, being a senior player is a responsibility that he takes seriously.
Witness the way he let the Villarreal bench know exactly what he thought of Renato Veiga’s challenge on Lamine Yamal.
A player who has grown into his role at the club and who deserves all the accolades that come his way.
The importance of Joan Garcia
Thank God for Joan Garcia.
How many times this season had he got Barca out of a hole with some brilliant goalkeeping, and how many times did he save the Catalans against Villarreal?
The intervention against (an offside) Sergi Cardona was noteworthy, as was another save of the highest quality from Georges Mikautadze.
Five saves were as many as he’d made against Rayo Vallecano, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s sullen demeanour towards the end of the game spoke volumes.
