Sandro Ramirez was the hero for Barcelona as the Catalan outfit beat Villarreal 1-0 at El Madrigal this evening.
The La Liga pair were locked at 0-0 entering the final 10 minutes, but teenager Sandro converted late on to secure all the points.
Here, Sports Mole dissects the action between the two Spanish rivals.
Match statistics
Villarreal
Shots: 9
On target: 0
Possession: 27%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 12
Barcelona
Shots: 20
On target: 8
Possession: 73%
Corners: 10
Fouls: 9
Was the result fair?
The manner in which Villarreal suffered defeat this evening will be difficult to take, but in truth, there is little denying that Barcelona deserved to claim all the points. The home team were defensively excellent for long spells and did create a number of good opportunities, but Barca were always the team on the front foot and continued to look dangerous as the second period advanced.
As impressive as Villarreal were, they did not manage a single attempt on target, which is a demonstration of their struggles in the final third. Barcelona boss Luis Enrique, however, made clever changes at the right time and it was the pace and invention of Neymar and Sandro that helped claim all three points. It is still early days, but it is a big statement to win at Villarreal considering their list of injuries entering the match.
Villarreal's performance
Defensively, Villarreal were brilliant this evening, with Mateo Musacchio, Victor Ruiz and Mario Gaspar all impressing against the multi-talented Barcelona attack. However, further forward they struggled. The often-influential pair of Cani and Bruno failed to seriously make their mark, while Giovani dos Santos was too often left isolated in the final third. They certainly missed the running power of Ikechukwu Uche, but that said, they did have good chances.
Ruiz and Tomas Pina - who struck the post late on - both came close for the home side, but they failed to register a single attempt on target. It will be difficult for the Yellow Submarine to balance league and European commitments this season and it has not helped that they have picked up a couple of injuries in the early stages of the campaign. They will feel that they were worth a point against Barcelona this evening, but they were holding on for much of the second period.
Barcelona's performance
The Catalan outfit are still not at full flow and have a number of injuries and suspensions, which makes their performance this evening all the more impressive. Munir El-Haddadi and Rafinha were again both handed starts, but it was Lionel Messi that stole the show once more, with the Argentine causing all sorts of problems throughout the 90 minutes. There is no question that the away side missed the presence of Andres Iniesta in the middle of the park, but Ivan Rakitic has been so impressive in his first two league starts for the club.
They had a couple of nervy moments defensively, but overall looked a lot tighter and credit must be given to summer signing Jeremy Mathieu, who is just the type of centre-back that they needed. Neymar and Sandro both influenced the match from the bench in the latter stages, with the latter making the breakthrough. The likes of Xavi and Iniesta might be coming to the end of their careers, but Barcelona have such talent coming through.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Lionel Messi: Messi could not add to his La Liga goal tally this evening after scoring twice against Elche last weekend, but he did just about everything else. The Argentine radiated class each time he had possession of the ball and it was his low cross that set up Sandro for the winner. There were times last season when Messi looked unhappy, but with the captain's armband tonight, the World Cup finalist produced a brilliant performance.
Biggest gaffe
On-loan Valencia defender Ruiz had an incredible chance to send Villarreal ahead in the latter stages of the first period after meeting a deep cross from Cani, but the centre-back could only clip his effort high of the crossbar. It would have given the Yellow Submarine something to protect in the second 45 minutes.
Referee performance
It was not an easy match for Carlos Velasco to referee due to the number of late challenges that occurred, especially in the first period. However, the Spaniard performed well under the circumstances. Barcelona felt that they should have been awarded a penalty in the first half when Mario felled Pedro, but Velasco was not interested. Just two yellow cards were issued in total (both to Barcelona) on a fairly straight-forward night.
What next?
Villarreal: Next up for the Yellow Submarine is a trip to Granada on September 14.
Barcelona: The Catalan outfit welcome Athletic Bilbao to the Camp Nou on September 13.
Matt Law
