Villarreal 1-1 Barcelona

Villarreal came oh so close to defeating Barcelona in the newly-named Estadio de la Ceramica, but a Leo Messi free-kick in the 90th minute gave the visitors a draw.

There were lots of talking points in this match—Barcelona had two penalty shouts for handballs, one of which could well have been given, while Villarreal had a good shout turned down as well. Villarreal could have taken the lead very early from Jonathan dos Santos, but it wasn’t until early in the second half that a goal was recorded, Alexandre Pato laying off a lovely ball for Sansone to finish.

Messi came close to levelling the score with a shot off the post that caromed away, Turan headed over, but the final four minutes of the 90 plus injury time were—literally—painful for Villarreal. In the 87th minute play was stopped when Mateo Musacchio fell awkwardly on his wrist—word is he will be out the remainder of January—and Alvaro Gonzalez came on for him. And in the 90th minute (89:35, to be precise) Leo Messi won a free kick and placed a beauty into the top corner to Asenjo’s right.

In injury time Jaume Costa picked up a second yellow card, so the Yellow Submarine finished off with 10 men for the first time this season.

Highlights:

We drop to fifth in the league with this draw (Atleti having won), but still, a point against Barcelona is always welcome. Just a pity we could not have held on for three. Endavant!!