Villarreal defeat Barça with an incredible comeback in the last three minutes of a crazy game
Being a Yellow is amazing (3-5)
Villarreal overthrow Barça with an incredible comeback in the last three minutes of a crazy game
Villarreal picked up three key points at one of the toughest venues in LALIGA, the Lluís Companys Stadium, where the Yellows came from behind to beat FC Barcelona (3-5) in a beautiful, wild game. The Yellows, in an incredible performance, scored two goals in the last three minutes with the score at 3-3 to take the win against the Catalan side.
Providential strikes from Sorloth and Morales added to the opening goals from Gerard, Ilías and the equaliser, which came in the 86th minute from Guedes to level the match when Barça had already come back from two goals.
Villarreal came out of the game well. Marcelino’s side gave control of the ball to FC Barcelona, who were looking for a gap in the yellow defence. The first approach of the match came from Álex Baena in the third minute of the match, in which he actually managed to score past Iñaki Peña’s goal, but the referee Munuera Montero disallowed the goal for offside.
The Blaugrana response came in the seventh minute with a free-kick from Gündogan and in the 14th minute with a shot from the edge of the area by João Félix. Filip Jörgensen responded to both attempts with two good interventions.
Villarreal were looking a solid team on the pitch and increasingly began to threaten FC Barcelona with counter-attacks born of good combinations when it came to getting the ball out. Around the half hour mark, the referee, Munuera Montero, disallowed a goal by Gerard Moreno for an alleged positional offside by Sorloth, who was apparently obstructing Araújo as he tried to block Gerard’s shot in the six-yard box.
However, the team were not to be denied and in the 40th minute Gerard Moreno, after a pass from Sorloth, made it 0-1 with a left-footed shot that hit the post of Iñaki Peña’s goal on its way in.
Villarreal went in at the break with the lead.
The second half got off to a great start! Villarreal were able to withstand Barça’s initial onslaught and, in the 53rd minute, their moment arrived. Filip Jörgensen’s shot was sent towards the head of Sorloth, who was able to get his flick it on and Ilias took advantage of a mistake by Joao Cancelo to get one-on-one with Peña and, after dribbling past him, scored with pleasure to make it 0-2.
The winger was struck down by injury and left the field two minutes later with discomfort. Guedes came on in his place.
Barcelona pulled one back through Gündogan in the 59th minute with a left-footed cross-shot.
Following that goal, the home side began to grow into the game and seven minutes later found the equaliser through Pedri. Marcelino tried to stop the Blaugrana onslaught by bringing on Mandi and Capoue.
But nothing could stop a lively Barça and, in the 71st minute, Araújo made it 3-2 for the home side from a set piece. Things were getting tough for the Yellows.
In the 76th minute, the head coach also used up his changes, bringing on Morales and Mosquera, who was making his debut for Villarreal CF. Villarreal never gave up and found the equaliser in the 84th minute. Morales, in midfield, turned and gave it to Sorloth, who managed to set up Guedes who, after entering the area, beat Peña with a right-footed drive to make it 3-3.
The best was yet to come. As the minutes ticked by, the game opened up more and more, with Barça going all out and Villarreal not losing their heads but doing what they could to block the balls from an attacking home side.
The ball went from one area to the other with incredible speed until, in the 90th minute, Munuera pointed to the spot for a penalty against Comesaña but, after a VAR review, the referee overruled the penalty. The excitement was mounting and, nine minutes into stoppage time, Sorloth made it 3-4 after a superb performance – he already had two assists – from a move inside the Barcelona box. Three minutes later, Morales struck to make it a glorious 3-5 for the Yellows.
After the win against FC Barcelona (3-5), Villarreal CF will have another important game on Sunday 4th February when they take on Cádiz at the Estadio de la Cerámica at 2pm.
FC Barcelona: Iñaki Peña; Kounde, R. Araujo, Christensen (min. 46, Cubarsi), Héctor Fort (min. 46, Joao Cancelo); F. De Jong, Romeu (min. 46, Pedri), Gundogan; Lamine Yamal, Joao Felix (min. 58, Ferran), Lewandowski.
Villarreal CF: Jorgensen; Kiko F. (min. 76, Mosquera), E. Bailly, J. Cuenca, Alberto M. (min. 70, Mandi); Álex B. (min. 70, Capoue), Coquelin, Santi C.V., I. Akhomach (min. 58, Guedes); Gerard (min. 76, A. J. Morales), Sorloth.
Goals: 0-1. Min. 41: Gerard. 0-2. Min. 53: I. Akhomach. 1-2. Min. 60: Gundogan. 2-2. Min. 67: Pedri. 3-2. Min. 71: R. Araujo. 3-3. Min. 86: Guedes. Min 90+9: Sorloth. Min 90+12: A. J. Morales.
Referee: Munuera Montero. Booked: Romeu, Lewandowski, R. Araujo (FC Barcelona); Álex B., E. Bailly, Mosquera, Cuenca (Villarreal CF).
Matchay information: Match between FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF, corresponding to Matchday 22 of the 2023/24 LALIGA EA SPORTS season, at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium.
