VILLARREAL: Barcelona wingers Raphinha and Lamine Yamal guided the Catalan giants four points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win at 10-man Villarreal on Sunday.
Brazil international Raphinha won and converted an early penalty before Villarreal’s Renato Veiga was sent off before half-
time for a late lunge on teenager Yamal.
The 18-year-old slotted home Barca’s second midway through the second half, as Hansi Flick’s side restored their advantage on Real Madrid, second, and won an eighth consecutive league game.
Villarreal are fourth after Atletico Madrid moved ahead of them with a 3-0 win at Girona earlier on.
“We’re happy because we finish the year as leaders, which was our objective, and now we can rest,” Barca midfielder Frenkie de Jong told DAZN.
“Villarreal have fast players who break rapidly, and we have to manage that a bit better… But in the end I think we were superior, and I wouldn’t say comfortable, but I think it was a deserved win.”
Flick launched into an impassioned defence of Raphinha on Saturday after he was not included in FIFA’s ‘The Best’ team of the year earlier in the week, and the winger quickly repaid his coach.
Raphinha produced an all-action display at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica, where the match was played instead of in Miami, after La Liga’s plans to take this game to the United States were scrapped in October.
Jules Kounde blocked Villarreal striker Ayoze Perez’s shot before Raphinha drew a foul from Santi Comesana to win a penalty at the other end.
The winger dispatched it confidently in the 12th minute and nearly added the second with a superb effort from distance which crashed back off the bar. – AFP
