MY ACCOUNT
Pedri’s first-half strike earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Villarreal and moved the LaLiga leaders 11 points clear at the summit.
With closest challengers Real Madrid away on Club World Cup duty — which they won with victory over Al Hilal in Saturday’s final — Barca took full advantage at El Madrigal.
Pedri struck with 18 minutes played after linking up with Robert Lewandowski, who had three attempts saved by Villarreal goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
Villarreal had the ball in the net late on but Samuel Chukwueze’s strike was ruled out as Barca opened up a double-figures lead on Madrid, who have a game in hand to play.
Reina denied Lewandowski from a one-on-one inside the first three minutes, but the Poland striker played a big part in Barca’s breakthrough goal.
Pedri played a quick one-two with Lewandowski, controlled the return pass when it arrived to him in front of goal and calmly tucked the ball away from Reina.
Lewandowski was again thwarted by Reina when going for goal himself, but Villarreal gave Barca a scare as Jose Luis Morales raced through and fired into the side-netting.
Both sides continued to create the occasional opening, with Raphinha sending an effort across the face of goal and Alex Baena flashing wide from further out at the other end.
Villarreal edged the second period and thought they had levelled through Chukwueze, but Yeremy was flagged for offside as Barca kept a fifth clean sheet in six league games.
What does it mean? Barca’s winning run continues
Barcelona have now won 11 games in a row in 2023 and are unbeaten in a 16-game run stretching back to October, keeping nine clean sheets in that period.
Villarreal had their moments, but Barca will feel they were good value for the win as they finished with an expected goals (xG) return of 1.47 compared to their opponents’ 1.11.
The Catalan club have lost only one of their past 28 league matches against Villarreal, who have now lost three in a row in LaLiga for the first time since March 2020.
Pedri proving the difference
Pedri is proving to be a difference-maker for Barcelona, having now scored the winning goal in 1-0 wins over Getafe, Girona and Villarreal since the World Cup break.
He has scored seven goals overall this term, which is bettered only by Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham (10) among players aged under 21 across Europe’s top five leagues.
Lewy fires another blank
Lewandowski can be pleased with his assist for Pedri’s goal, which evoked memories of Barca’s tiki-taka past, but he will disappointed not to have scored from his three attempts.
The former Bayern Munich striker has now scored only one goal in his past six LaLiga games, yet he remains three goals clear in the race for the Pichichi Trophy.
What’s next?
Barcelona host Manchester United in the first leg of their Europa League knockout play-off round tie on Thursday, while Villarreal travel to Real Mallorca in their next league game in a week’s time.
