There was everything in this match: six goals, three more disallowed, Barcelona's post and Villarreal's crossbar, Lewandowski's double and a wasted penalty, Raphinha's two goals and Yamal's wonderful assist. The initiative sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. Logic ruled the first half, in the second only emotions mattered. It was great to watch! And don't let the result fool you. Villarreal were truly worthy rivals.
Stoicym is valued. Players like Hansi Flick's approach
The 2-1 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League was the first blemish on Barcelona's perfect start to the season. It didn't destroy any of the theses that had been put forward earlier, nor did it dampen the admiration for Hansi Flick's work, but it did raise questions – for example, about the increasing number of errors by Marc-Andre ter Stegen and the problem with filling the defensive midfield position. The Barcelona players reportedly liked their new coach's calmness and the consistency with which he prepared them for the meeting with Villarreal – an uncomfortable opponent who had not lost any of their five matches and were fourth in the league table.
“Relevo” described Flick as a stoic who hardly raises his voice in the locker room, uses short messages and focuses on absolute honesty. He is therefore a completely different coach than Xavi Hernandez, who, in the heat of the moment – just after the last match with Villarreal – surprised with the declaration that he intends to say goodbye to the club at the end of the season. At that time, the match was crazy: Barcelona were losing 0:2 after an hour, were leading 3:2 in the 71st minute, but conceded three goals in the end and lost 3:5.
This time too we couldn’t complain about a lack of emotions.
Lewandowski's lucky date. 9 years ago he played a cosmic match, now he scored two goals
The first quarter of an hour was an extension of the match with Monaco. Villarreal also tried to attack Barcelona in their half, and after receiving the ball, run with it as quickly as possible to the goal. After one of these trips, Yeremy Pino scored a goal for 1-0, but the referees noticed that he was slightly offside. We watched an intense match, in which Barcelona had a lot of problems in the midfield.
At first, Robert Lewandowski may have also felt as if he had not yet left the Principality – he rarely received the ball, was entangled in a fight with defenders and did not even approach the Villarreal goal. But one perpendicular pass from Pablo Torre was enough for the Pole to show his sniper instinct. His reflexes were key in this action – immediate decision-making and lightning-fast reaction to what was happening on the pitch. Barcelona regained the ball close to the penalty area, and Lewandowski was still glued to the central defenders. First, he showed with his hand where he wanted to receive the pass and moved to that place before the play, only to strike the ball with the tip of his boot just past the goalkeeper a moment later. An effective finish – that's one thing. What was more impressive was that Lewandowski “saw” this action before it even happened. Later, he transferred his thoughts to the pitch and celebrated his fifth goal this season.
On September 22, 2015, Lewandowski played the most iconic match of his career. He scored five goals against Wolfsburg in nine minutes. He broke four Guinness World Records that day and made Pep Guardiola hold his head in his hands. The Pole watched the first half from the substitutes' bench. He was irritated by this, because at that time he still wanted to be on the pitch without a break. It is not known what exactly the Catalan's plan was for that evening – how many minutes was Lewandowski supposed to get, because Bayern were unexpectedly losing 0:1, so right after the break the Pole rushed to his aid. He certainly wanted to prove to Guardiola that he had made a mistake by putting him among the substitutes, but that does not explain such a sensational performance. Lewandowski himself still cannot explain how it happened. – I often recall that day, because it was really great. It was an extraordinary nine minutes and I think that no one will repeat this feat any time soon – he said in an interview for the official Bayern Munich website.
And maybe there is something to this date, because exactly nine years later Lewandowski played a very good match again. Not as magical and spectacular as in Munich, but with a double against a very demanding opponent. He scored the second goal in the 35th minute with a bicycle kick – chaos reigned in Villareal's penalty area, and he found his place in it best. He was right in front of the goal when Eric Garcia's shot had to be finished off. The Pole was positioned awkwardly, with his back to the goal. His bicycle kick was not the most spectacular, the shot was delicate, but it was enough to score the second goal.
In the 66th minute, Lewandowski had a great chance to cap off his great performance and score his second hat-trick in La Liga, but he missed the penalty. He again changed his pace before taking the shot, trying to confuse Diego Conde, but not only did the Villarreal goalkeeper dive in the right direction, but the ball hit the outside of the post. The best chance was gone, and there was no next one. When the match ended, Lewandowski seemed pleased, though. He laughed and high-fived with his teammates.
Seven, four, five. Barcelona's devastating power
The most important thing was that Barcelona won a very demanding match by a large margin. The result itself can deceive fans who did not watch the match. Villarreal clashed with VAR technology, which rightly took away two goals. But they also clashed with moments of incredible Barcelona. The term “at times” is important because her performance was very uneven – when Villarreal pressed her at the beginning of the second half, she seemed helpless, and for a long time she was unable to cope with the opponents' counterattacks, and her defenders had particular problems taming Nicolas Pepe. But Barcelona were also capable of spectacular attacks – Hansi Flick turned Raphinha into a machine that moves at the speed of light and scores goals from difficult positions. Yamal made a beautiful assist when he delivered the ball to the Brazilian with a long pass with the outside of his foot. Also shining was 21-year-old Pablo Torre, who was loaned to Girona last season and played just eight minutes against Valladolid at the beginning of this season, when Barca were already six-goal ahead. His case only confirms that whatever Hansi Flick touches in Barcelona, he turns into gold. The German unexpectedly put him in the starting line-up, and he returned the favor with a goal and an assist.
Although the scoreline doesn't indicate it, Villarreal were probably the most demanding of all the league opponents for Barcelona so far. Their offensive strength is, however, astounding – after seven goals scored against Valladolid, four against Girona, five came at the Estadio de la Ceramica.