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 high of LaLiga to 11 factors and hold them on the right track for a primary league title since 2019.
Robert Lewandowski fired an early likelihood straight at goalkeeper Pepe Reina however he had higher luck together with his passing, teeing up Pedri in an excellent change 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 capable of get down well to steer away his left-footed shot from contained in the field.
In a sport punctuated by some crunching tackles, Villareal misplaced midfielder Francis Coquelin to what seemed to be a nasty knee harm within the thirty fifth minute, and referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez doled out eight yellow playing cards, 4 to every crew, over the 90 minutes.
Though the house aspect 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 way of, they discovered centre again Ronald Araujo in imperious kind, and he got here to his aspect’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 brief because the keeper pulled off one other nice save to disclaim the Polish worldwide, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to stop Barcelona from taking all three factors.
The win leaves Barca high 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, presently occupied by Atletico Madrid.
Source: www.thehindu.com
