Barcelona edge past Villarreal to go 11 points clear in La Liga

Pedri’s 18th-minute strike gave Barcelona a 1-0 win away at Villarreal on Sunday evening. The results sees Xavi’s side extend the lead to 11 points at the summit of the La Liga standings over reigning Champions Real Madrid, the latter who have a game in hand.

Barcelona started the better of two sides and could have got an early lead but Villarreal goalkeeper Pepe Reina kept out Robert Lewandowski’s effort after just 3 minutes. The Blaugrana were the better of the two sides dominating possession with their passing game and wonderful interplay among the midfield three.

The away side took the lead in the 18^th minute when Pedri finished off a brilliant team move. Frenkie De Jong found Raphinha high up the pitch and the Brazilian fed into Lewandowski with a near pass. The Pole played a quick one-two with Pedri to open up the hosts’ defense and the latter finished in style past Reina.

Minutes later, Lewandowski was denied once again by the Spanish goalkeeper minutes later as Reina got down quickly to keep the score at 1-0.

Villarreal should have leveled the score in the dying stages of the first half but Jose Luis Morales failed to hit the back of the net after being through on goal from Jules Kounde’s defensive calamity.

Both sides picked several yellow cards after the restart as neither gained any sort of passing rhythm and momentum to carve out openings.

Barcelona, however, should have been 2-0 ahead right after the hour mark but Raphinha put his effort wide following a delightful ball from Lewandowski.

Samuel Chukwueze had the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was chalked off as Yeremy Pino had drifted into an offside position. Barcelona survived a late spell of pressure from the hosts but eventually held on to grab three huge points on the evening.

The Camp Nou side have now won six straight league games and with far less European distraction to worry about should fancy themselves to lift the La Liga title at the end of the season.

Villarreal, meanwhile, sit eighth in the standings with 31 points from 21 games, 7 adrift of a UEFA Champions League berth.

Photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire