After a couple of poor displays, vintage Blaugrana was on display on Sunday night. FC Barcelona ran riot in a dominant 1-4 away victory against formidable opponents Villarreal. This win brings them within 4 points of Real Madrid leading to what has the potential to become an extremely exciting title race with four games to spare.
Much has been said about Messi and Griezmann’s relationship through the week, yet the pair let their football do the talking with performances worthy of golden crowns.
Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez scored stunners in the first half to put Villarreal on the back foot before a late strike from Ansu Fati capped off a memorable victory for Quique Setien’s men.
Barcelona showed plenty of intent right from the outset and Jordi Alba’s excellent low cross resulted in an own goal within the first five minutes. Villarreal hit back immediately with a brilliant counter-attack that saw former Barcelona youth product Gerard Moreno get on the scoresheet.
Barcelona did not demotivated by Villarreal’s equaliser and a magical Lionel Messi dribble resulted in a brilliant top-corner goal for Luis Suarez. After the mandator cooling break, Barcelona were firmly in control but former Blaugrana Paco Alcacer continued to threaten with dangerous attacks. He later limped off with an injury and was replaced by a lively Carlos Bacca.
Villarreal would only suffer more misery, however, as Antoine Griezmann proved his mettle to Barcelona with a sublime Messi-like chip into the Villarreal goal.
Barcelona continued to dominate through their attacking prowess, which resulted in yet another Messi goal, which was later adjudged offside due to Arturo Vidal during the buildup. Barcelona seized the initiative after the cooling break and a beautiful lateral pass from Lionel Messi nearly led to a Martin Braithwaite goal. Ansu Fati made no mistake with his finish, however, and got the better of Raul Albiol to score a brilliant goal.
In a must-win game Barcelona showed their mettle. Trailing Real Madrid by 4 points, the last few games of the La Liga are sure to make for an exciting climax.
