Source: Cadena Ser
An excess of confidence from Barcelona and a very good Asenjo gave options to Villarreal, who threw a ball at the post
Messi, annoyed by a hard entry of Cáseres, was absent until he gave a great pass to Aleñà goal
In the best game as Barça’s Ousmane Dembélé, Barcelona resolved their problems with Villarreal (2-0), with goals from Gerard Piqué and Carles Aleñá, who in this way premiered his account with the first Barça team.
It was not an easy match for the Catalans, who needed to win after in the two previous matches (Betis and Atlético de Madrid) those of Ernesto Valverde had only added one of the six points in play.
And it cost Barça a lot. It’s not a secret that he lacks speed, but also confidence in his game. The rivals, with very little, arrive on the goal of Ter Stegen and the fluidity is no longer the hallmark of the Catalans.
With the same eleven he won a few days ago in Eindhoven without offering good feelings, Valverde repeated the script. His team was a little more solid behind, but with many problems in the creation.
DATA SHEET
2 – Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Arturo Vidal (Aleñá, min 71); Dembélé, Messi and Coutinho (Malcom, min.80).
0 – Villarreal: Asenjo, Mario, Álvaro, Víctor Ruiz, Pedraza; Catchers, Trigueros (Bacca, min 67); Cazorla (Raba, min.87), Fornals, Chukweueze and Gerard Moreno (Toko Ekambi, min.79).
Goals: 1-0, min. 36: Piqué. 2-0, min. 87: Aleñá.
Referee: Munuera Montero (Andalusian Committee). He showed yellow cards to Víctor Ruiz (min 11), Lenglet (min 18), Álvaro (min 26), Alba (min 70), Fornals (min 90) and Pedraza (min 91).
He did not give much in defense, but if Gerard Moreno had been successful in the only occasion he had (min.13), the yellows would have advanced on the scoreboard, but the Catalan striker’s shot, after taking advantage of the doubts of Lenglet and Ter Stegen hit a stick on the home goal.
The luck of the locals this Sunday was Ousmane Dembélé, who read the match very well. Without options to play on the left, where the duo Alba-Coutinho had many problems to overcome Mario Gaspar and the ultra-fast Samuel Chukwueze, who gave air in defense and attack to the team of Javi Calleja.
With Leo Messi of false nine, Dembélé saw that on the right, with the help of Semedo, the imbalance could arrive and he arrived. In the first half, apart from the French, came back Leo Messi, who had a couple of actions, especially one in the 39th minute that could extend the lead on the scoreboard.