Villarreal 3-4 FC Barcelona: Rollercoaster ride to victory

It’s been a decade and a half since FC Barcelona lost away to Villarreal and the record holds following a simply tremendous seven-goal feast this Sunday.

Barça may have taken an early 2-0 lead, but the home side had been playing some fine football of their own, and somehow managed to claw their way back to not only equalise but take the lead.

The Estadio de la Cerámica was bouncing but it was the visitors who would have the final say. Two quick goals and the game had been turned on its head once again, and Barça ended up claiming three extremely well-earned points.

History making goals

The first two goals came as an especially pleasant surprise considering all of the pressure for the first ten minutes had been from the men in yellow.
But when Barça finally attacked themselves, they scored!

Lamile Yamal made history by becoming the youngest player to supply a Liga assist this century as flicked in the cross and Gavi outsmarted the Villarreal defence to head the ball home.

Happy days. No sooner had that one gone in and Barça were two ahead. Frenkie de Jong pounced on a loose ball and stroked it into the back of the net!

That goal made Barça the first team to score 100 top flight goals against the Yellow Submarine.

Villarreal turn it around

With the Catalans now clearly on top and with two goals to show for their efforts, it was Villarreal’s turn to score against the run of play. Juan Foyth headed a corner in off the post to become the first player to beat Ter Stegen this season.

The German would soon be picking another ball out of the net. Villarreal’s new signing Alexander Sørloth had already had one early goal chalked off for the narrowest of offsides, and it looked like VAR was going to deny the Norwegian a second on 40 minutes.

But no. This time the goal stood, and a manic first half was going to end 2-2.

Barça back in front

And Villarreal weren’t finished. Five minutes into the second half and Alex Baena banged home goal number three. From losing 2-0, the home side now led 3-2.

However, there were yet more twists to come and these ones were going to be far nicer from the blaugrana perspective.

With 20 minutes to go, the ball ricocheted everywhere in the Villarreal area before substitute Ferran Torres finally volleyed home to make it 3-3.

Barça were not only back in the game, but they were immediately back on top! We were still waiting for the first Robert Lewandowski goal of the season and now we had it as the Pole was onto the rebound of not the first but the second Lamine Yamal strike of the day to rattle back off the post.

What a turnaround! What a game of football this was turning out to be.

Fermin debut

With Fermin Lopez, who raised so many eyebrows during the preseason tour, on as a late substitute to make his competitive debut, Barça looked remarkably settled despite the unpredictable nature of this encounter.

Chances for a fifth goal were abundant, but Filip Jörgensen was inspired in the Villarreal goal, especially when Lewandowski looked certain to score.

Another Villarreal goal never looked likely. Barça had this one. We could breathe again at last.

Three impressive points in the bag and next up is another road trip, this time to Osasuna, which is 9pm CEST start on Sunday 3, the last game before the first international break of the season.