After a thrilling 4-3 win against Villarreal on the road at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Sunday, Barcelona’s perfect start to the season continues. One of the best and craziest games of the 2023-24 Spanish football season, Barça led 2-0 before a defensive collapse allowed the opposition to score twice and ultimately won a thrilling match at a notoriously difficult venue.
FIRST HALF
This was precisely the wonderful game between two attacking sides a neutral wanted. Both teams played terrific offensive football, scoring four goals and creating several opportunities.
From a Barça perspective, their backline seemed alarmingly exposed. The Yellow Submarine had chances in the opening 10 minutes, but Barça survived due to a tight offside and a great save by Marc-André ter Stegen.
Gavi’s header following Lamine Yamal’s cross and Frenkie de Jong’s strike after a deflection inside the area offered the Dutchman a fantastic chance that he didn’t squander handed Barça two goals in three minutes.
After scoring the goal, Barça played brilliantly and might have scored a third with the holes they created in the Villarreal defense, but their backline cost them late in the game.
Sergi Roberto was bullied off the ball inside the box, allowing Juan Foyth to score a free header to make it 2-1, and Alexander Sorloth scored a tap-in to equalize after Villarreal’s beautiful passing sequence opened up Barça’s defense, leaving the Catalans unsure who to mark in transition.
After a chaotic first half with four goals, tremendous offensive play, and terrible defense from both sides, Barça needed to improve at the back to win the game.
SECOND HALF
Five minutes into the second half, Villarreal were able to complete their comeback thanks to a goal from Pedraza, who easily got past Sergi Roberto and was allowed to carry the ball for over 50 yards before assisting lex Baena, who had time and space to pick the far corner.
Despite falling behind, the Catalans responded admirably. Xavi Hernández made an attacking substitution by replacing Oriol Romeu with Ferran Torres, and the Blaugrana continued to pose a threat and create real chances by pressing forward in large numbers and using excellent passing combinations to find spaces in the Villarreal backline.
After Yamal’s sensational strike was saved onto the post by Filip Jörgensen and Marcos Alonso forced a great save from Jörgensen, the visitors kept pressing until they completed their own comeback: first, Ferran made it 3-3 by not giving up on a play he started and scoring a great goal with his left foot, and then Robert Lewandowski finally got off the mark for the season just three minutes later.
More over 20 minutes remained, therefore Barça had to take charge of the match to attempt to seal the deal with a fifth goal and keep their defensive shape to prevent another concession.
Despite Villarreal’s late onslaught in extra time, the defense was eventually solid enough to prevent any major difficulty. This was in part due to Ansu Fati’s poor finishing and decision-making in his short replacement cameo and Lewandowski missing a one-on-one with the keeper.
After 96 minutes of absolute insanity, the referee blew the final whistle at Vila-real and Barça came away with all three points. Even if the defense looked horrible for the whole game, there were some bright spots: the will to win on the road after falling down 3-2, the quality of the offense and the passing in the middle of the field, even without Pedri and Lamine. Freaking. Yamal. That youngster’s extraordinary story has just started.
There is room for improvement, but this is a significant victory, and the offense looked fantastic. Finally, Barça faced a team with competitive aspirations. Do you like football more when both sides are attempting to score?
