Villarreal 0-2 Barcelona: Visitors restore four-point lead thanks to Raphinha and Yamal

Barcelona restored their four-point lead at the LaLiga summit following a 2-0 victory over 10-man Villarreal.

An early Raphinha penalty and Lamine Yamal’s second-half strike secured all three points for Hansi Flick’s side at Estadio de la Ceramica.

The Blaugrana, who were without Andreas Christensen due to an ACL injury, broke the deadlock after just 12 minutes, as Raphinha sent Luiz Junior the wrong way from 12 yards after he was fouled by Santi Comesana.

Raphinha hit the bar shortly afterwards, before Villarreal thought they had equalised when Jules Kounde put through his own net, only for the goal to be ruled out for an offside.

The hosts were reduced to 10 men six minutes before the break, with Renato Veiga shown a straight red card for a rash two-footed challenge on Yamal.

Yamal doubled Barca’s lead in the 63rd minute, sweeping home after Junior kept out substitute Robert Lewandowski’s initial effort.

The visitors almost grabbed a third in stoppage time when Sergi Cardona cleared off the line to deny Marcus Rashford, but the two-goal advantage was enough to get Flick’s side over the line.

169 – Barcelona have scored 169 goals in 60 matches in 2025 across all competitions. Only four times in their history have they scored more goals in a single year, all four during the Messi era: 180 in 2015, 175 in 2012, 174 in 2016 and 170 in 2011. Feast. pic.twitter.com/PCHCCf6w44

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) December 21, 2025

Data Debrief: Lewandowski hits landmark appearance

Barca are now unbeaten in each of their last 18 LaLiga away games against Villarreal (W14 D4), winning each of their most recent eight.

Lewandowski climbed off the bench to make his 500th appearance in the top five European leagues, making him the 10th striker to reach the landmark in the 21st century.

Raphinha became the first Blaugrana player to score, win a penalty, and hit the post in a single match in any competition since Luis Suarez against Real Madrid in October 2018.

And Flick’s side have hit the woodwork 14 times in LaLiga this season, more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues.

Barca have scored 169 goals in 60 matches across all competitions in 2025, only netting more times in a calendar year on four occasions – 2015 (180), 2012 (175), 2016 (174) and 2011 (170).