Barcelona edge Villareal to go 11 points clear in LaLiga

Barcelona defeated Villareal 1-0 at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday. The victory increased Barcelona's advantage over Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga to 11 points and kept them on track to win the championship for the first time since 2019. Although Robert Lewandowski missed an early opportunity to score by shooting straight at Pepe Reina, he had more luck with his passing, setting up Pedri in a superb move that allowed the 20-year-old to score in the 18th minute.After another fluid Barca assault eight minutes later, Lewandowski came close to scoring again, but Reina was able to get down quickly and deflect his left-footed drive from within the area.The 35th minute saw Villareal lose midfielder Francis Coquelin to what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Over the course of the game's 90 minutes, referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez issued eight yellow cards, four to each club.Lewandowski and Raphael came close to increasing the advantage as the action ebbed and flowed, despite the fact that the home team enjoyed the most of possession.The few times Villareal did succeed in breaking through, they found centre back Ronald Araujo in commanding form. In the second half, he saved his team many times with well-timed clearances and tackles.Lewandowski made one final attempt to beat Reina, but he was unsuccessful since the goalkeeper made another excellent save to stop the Polish international, but it wasn't enough to stop Barcelona from winning the game.With the victory, Barca is in first place with 56 points after 21 games, while Villareal is in eighth place with 31 points, seven points behind Atletico Madrid in the race for the fourth Champions League spot in LaLiga.