Three talking points from Villarreal 0-2 Barcelona

A vital win to keep Catalans clear at the top.

Sunday’s fixture at Villarreal was always going to guarantee goals.

Here are two teams that enjoy playing free-flowing, attacking football, and, come what may, neither Marcelino nor Hansi Flick is going to be dissuaded from playing any other way.

The Blaugranes had scored in 37 matches before this one, their best run since 2013, whilst the Yellow Submarine had already earned a best-ever points total at this stage of the season.

Not to mention that the last four games had finished 3-2 and 5-3 to Villarreal, as well as 5-1 and 4-3 to Barcelona.

Uniquely, all four wins were for the away side, and the visitors might’ve fancied their luck this time, not having lost away at Villarreal since October 2007 in La Liga.

Though Barca would stay top of the league for Christmas, whatever happened on Sunday, the Yellow Submarine had the carrot of knowing that if they could get all three points, it would bring them to within five of their opponents.

Lose, and they’d have to claw back 11 points just to draw level with the Catalans.

Let’s take a look at three talking points from the match…

Lack of quality in the first half

It’s not clear why, but Barca’s passing was completely off in the first half.