The lowdown on Villarreal
Barça take on Villarreal in the Estadio de la Cerámica on Sunday, kick off 6.30pm CET, where they'll be looking to maintain their 100% record in La Liga after five wins in five outings so far in the 2024/25 season. Furthermore, Hansi Flick's team will be aiming to bounce back after their first setback of the season in midweek, a 2-1 defeat away at Monaco in the Champions League.
The Club
Villarreal are the classic example of how a team from a small town can mix it with the big boys. The club spent most of its existence in the regional leagues, but made it into the second division in the 1990s and in 1998 won promotion to the top flight for the first time ever.
They were not expected to stay long, but two decades later they are still there. In 2008 they finished as high as second.
They got as far as the Champions League semi-finals in 2006, the kind of achievement many assumed would never be repeated, but in 2022 they were in the last four again, eventually going out to Liverpool.
Not bad for a city of just 50,000 people!
Head to head
There was a period about a decade ago when Barça developed a nasty habit of slipping up against Villarreal. But the ‘bogey team’ label was emphatically confined to the past when Barça went on an incredible spree of 27 games without defeat to the ‘Yellow Submarine’ in all competitions.
That run came to an end in May of 2022 when Villarreal beat the Catalans in the last game of the 2021/22 season. However, the blaugranes got back to winning ways in 2022/23 when they did the double over Saturday's rivals, winning 3-0 at Spotify Camp Nou and 1-0 in the Estadio de la Cerámica.
Last season back in August 2023, the two sides played out a seven goal thriller in Villarreal with Barça coming from 3-2 down to win 4-3 thanks to goals from Ferran Torres and Robert Lewandowski. That victory means that the blaugranes are now unbeaten on their last 17 visits to the Estadio de la Cerámica.
The return fixture in the Estadi Olímpic was not such a happy affair with the visitors taking a 5-3 victory in January of this year.
Last five games (all La Liga)
27/1/24 Barça 3-5 Villarreal
27/08/23 Villarreal 3-4 Barça
12/02/23 Villarreal 0-1 Barça
20/10/22 Barça 3-0 Villarreal
22/05/22 Barça 0-2 Villarreal
Form guide
Barça top the table with 15 points from a possible 15 so far this season in the league and they will be looking to record six wins in their first six matches for the eighth time in their history and the first since 2017/18. Villarreal have also had an unbeaten start to the campaign in La Liga and are one of three teams just behind Barça on 11 points in the table after three wins and two draws from their opening five fixtures.
Barça connections
Right back Kiko Femenía was with Barça B from 2011–2013. After five years at Watford, he joined Villarreal in the summer of 2022. Denis Suárez is in his second spell with Villarreal and in between he made 46 appearances for the Barça first team between 2016 and 2019 and Ilias Akhomach came through La Masia before joining Villarreal in 2023.
Marcelino back in charge
Marcelino García Toral is in his second spell in charge at the Club. His first time round as coach involved promotion from the second division and three consecutive top six finishes in La Liga before his departure in 2016. In 2019 he won the Copa del Rey as Valencia coach, beating Barça in the final, and in 2021 he lead Athletic Club to a 3-2 win over the blaugranes in the final of the 2021 Spanish Super Cup.