Barcelona defeat Villarreal for their eighth consecutive win

Villareal 0-2 Barcelona

Barcelona: Raphinha (12') (P), Lamine Yamal (63') 

Barcelona came into the match under pressure after Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Sevilla had cut the gap to just one point. The hosts were not overly dominant early on, as Villarreal created the first chance, although Ayoze Pérez’s effort lacked power. Soon after, Raphinha was fouled inside the penalty area and made no mistake from the spot to open the scoring.

Villarreal pushed for an equaliser and even found the net in the 16th minute, but Cardona was ruled offside. The next major turning point came in the 39th minute, when Renato Veiga was shown a straight red card for a two-footed tackle on Lamine Yamal.

Barcelona went into the break 1-0 ahead and, in the second half, Hansi Flick’s side controlled the game, giving Villarreal little chance to respond. In the 63rd minute, Lamine Yamal doubled the lead after a scramble inside the penalty area.

The second goal effectively ended Villarreal’s hopes of a comeback. The Yellow Submarine tried to threaten on the counter, but none of their attacks led to a goal, and the match finished 2-0 in Barcelona’s favour. The result keeps Barcelona top of La Liga, four points ahead of Real Madrid.

Barcelona captain Frenkie de Jong said: “Villarreal are very quick on the counter; they’ve got talented players up front. We could’ve managed to be a bit better… We have to organise ourselves a bit better,” he said. “But I felt out there on the pitch that we were superior. Not necessarily comfortable, but I think we deserved to win.”

With this result, Flick’s side will end 2025 in first place in La Liga. Across all competitions this calendar year, Barcelona have scored 169 goals in 60 matches, only surpassing that tally in four previous years: 2015 (180), 2012 (175), 2016 (174) and 2011 (170).

La Liga will now take a two-week break before returning on 3 January. After the restart, Barcelona will face Espanyol in the final match of the first half of the season.