FC Barcelona’s Pedri. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A primary-half strike from Pedri gave Barcelona a 1-0 win over Villareal on the Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday to increase their lead over Real Madrid on the prime of LaLiga to 11 factors and preserve them heading in the right direction for a primary league title since 2019.
Robert Lewandowski fired an early likelihood straight at goalkeeper Pepe Reina however he had higher luck along with his passing, teeing up Pedri in a superb alternate that arrange the 20-year-old to clip the ball into the online within the 18th minute.
Lewandowski nearly scored a second eight minutes later after one other flowing Barca assault, however Reina was in a position to get down well to steer away his left-footed shot from contained in the field.
In a recreation punctuated by some crunching tackles, Villareal misplaced midfielder Francis Coquelin to what appeared to be a nasty knee damage within the thirty fifth minute, and referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez doled out eight yellow playing cards, 4 to every workforce, over the 90 minutes.
Though the house facet had extra possession it was the guests who created the higher probabilities, with Lewandowski and Raphinha each coming near doubling the lead because the motion ebbed and flowed.
On the few events Villareal did break by means of, they discovered centre again Ronald Araujo in imperious type, and he got here to his facet’s rescue greater than as soon as with well-timed clearances and tackles within the second half.
Lewandowski had one final effort at getting the higher of Reina however once more he got here up quick because the keeper pulled off one other high-quality save to disclaim the Polish worldwide, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to stop Barcelona from taking all three factors.
The win leaves Barca prime of the standings on 56 factors after 21 video games, whereas Villareal are in eighth place on 31 factors, seven off LaLiga’s fourth Champions League place, at present occupied by Atletico Madrid.
Source web site: www.thehindu.com
