Villarreal pull off two-goal first half comeback against Barcelona

It was an opening half full of twists and turns at 'La Ceramica'. Villarreal took their eyes off the ball and found themselves two goals down against Barcelona inside 15 minutes thanks to Gavi and Frenkie de Jong.

The home side's frustrations began just five minutes in when they had a goal of their own disallowed after VAR called Sorloth offside. But things went from bad to worse when Gavi connected with a ball in the box from youngster Lamine Yamal.

Frenkie de Jong put away Barca's second just minutes later as the midfielder was left totally unmarked in the middle of the box, calmly slotting the ball home from 12 yards out.

However, Villarreal weren't going to go down without a fight. The comeback began just 10 minutes later.

Juan Foyth connected to a dime of a corner from Alex Baena, finding the back of the net from close range with his head. And the second came five minutes before the break, onside this time by Sorloth.

The Norwegian netted off a pass from Pedraza on the left, tapping in to an empty goal as Marc Andre Ter Stegen had dived to try and block the pass across the box.

 

August 27, 2023