Spanish La Liga: Barcelona thrash Villarreal 4 - 1 to keep thin title hopes alive

Villarreal 1 - 4 Barcelona. Photo: as

It's all over at the Estadio de la Cerámica, where Villarreal have been well beaten by a Barcelona side who have produced by far their best performance since Quique Setién took charge.


Indeed, although the visitors have come away with four goals - with Antoine Griezmann's in-off-the-bar chip the pick of the bunch - they could easily have scored double that. That they did not is in no small measure down to Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.

Fine performance notwithstanding, tonight's is unlikely to be a result that affects the outcome of the title race, given that Real Madrid retain a four-point lead at the top and also have the head-to-head advantage over Barça.

Had Barcelona not won, though, they would certainly have been out of it. This at least keeps their slim hopes alive. It is just a shame for Setién that he did not get them playing like this sooner.

For Villarreal, meanwhile, it is a first defeat since LaLiga's return from suspension, bringing an end to an impressive sequence that had yielded five wins and a draw and taken Javi Calleja's men to within three points of the Champions League places.

Now, however, fourth-placed Sevilla can double their points advantage over the Submarino Amarillo if they beat Eibar tomorrow evening.