unstoppable. with aim of Pedrithe Catalans defeated Villarreal 1-0 to establish themselves at the top of La Liga 2022-2023.
By: Luis Imana
Barcelona beat Villarreal by a slender margin on matchday 21 of the Spanish league. Despite the fact that Xavi Hernández’s lead had a few chances to break the equalizer from the start, the inaccuracies prevented the Catalans from celebrating.
But the reward came on 18 minutes after Pedri gave away a beautiful wall with Robert Lewandowski to culminate with the 20-year-old’s result and silence the Estadio de la Cerámica.
After the goal, the Blaugranas were close to 2-0 but Pepe Reina showed his quality under the three sticks to ward off Barcelona’s chances. He even prevented Lewandowski from being in a dangerous situation.
Barcelona vs. Villarreal for date 21 of LaLiga 2022-23. Photo: AFP
In this way, the Catalan team sits at the top of La Liga with a 9-point advantage over their closest rivals Real Madrid. The “culés” are getting closer and closer to the national title.
“We’ve had many chances to score more goals, but often it’s the team’s success that fails in the last pass, decision-making and shooting. We were very clear, even outnumbered. We’re a very attacking team, even though we narrowly won,” Xavi explained after the game.
In addition, the Barcelona strategist achieved his 11th consecutive win (6 in La Liga, 3 in the Copa del Rey and 2 in the Spanish Super Cup) on the Barça bench, reaching the mark of in his tenure as ‘culé’ coach Pep Guardiola .