Barcelona re-established a four-point cushion over Real Madrid with a lively away success against Villarreal, sealing the points despite sustained early pressure. Hansi Flick’s team struck first in the 12th minute when Raphinha dispatched a spot-kick, awarded after Santi Comesana felled him inside the area, even though the hosts had dominated the opening exchanges.
Barcelona re-established a four-point cushion over Real Madrid with a lively away success against Villarreal, sealing the points despite sustained early pressure. Hansi Flick’s team struck first in the 12th minute when Raphinha dispatched a spot-kick, awarded after Santi Comesana felled him inside the area, even though the hosts had dominated the opening exchanges.
Villarreal entered the contest on a six-match league winning streak and started with intent at the Estadio de la Ceramica, but the breakthrough went the visitors’ way, shifting the momentum of an otherwise open encounter.
The Yellow Submarine will rue missed opportunities before the opener. Nicolas Pepe glanced a close-range header wide, while Ayoze Perez saw one attempt deflected away and later sent a low effort straight at goalkeeper Joan Garcia. Raphinha then came close to adding a second for Barcelona, crashing a fierce strike against the crossbar.
The match swung further in Barcelona’s favour shortly before the interval when Renato Veiga received a straight red card for a reckless challenge from behind on Lamine Yamal in the 39th minute, leaving Villarreal with a numerical disadvantage.
Despite that setback, the hosts briefly thought they had equalised when Jules Kounde diverted Sergi Cardona’s cross into his own net, only for the effort to be chalked off due to an offside call against the Villarreal defender. Pepe later struck the woodwork in a one-on-one following a pass from Dani Parejo, but that chance would also have been invalidated for an early run.
After the restart, the tempo dropped as Barcelona sought to capitalise on their extra man. Villarreal keeper Luiz Junior had to stretch fully to deny Fermin Lopez early in the second half, keeping his side in contention.
Any remaining doubt was removed in the 63rd minute when Yamal reacted quickest during a goalmouth scramble, nudging the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0 and register his ninth goal of the campaign across all competitions. Georges Mikautadze later found himself through on goal, but Garcia stood firm to repel the attempt with 13 minutes to play.
Barcelona managed the closing stages comfortably, extending their winning run in La Liga to eight matches. They resume league action after the winter pause with a derby meeting against Espanyol on Saturday, 3 January (20:00 GMT), while Villarreal head to Elche earlier that afternoon (17:30 GMT).
