Barcelona grab victory at Villarreal

Barcelona: Pedri goal before the break was enough to hand Barcelona a narrow 1-0 victory over Villarreal at the Estadio de la Ceramica in the Spanish LaLiga Santander.

Barcelona had the first clear chance of the duel, with Robert Lewandowski receiving the ball at the edge the box but failing to beat Pepe Reina in a one-on-one situation two minutes into the first half.

The Polish striker performed a quick one-two outside Villarreal's box with Pedri, who sent the ball past Reina, this being his sixth LaLiga Santander goal this season.

Lewandowski could have doubled Barcelona's lead in the 25th minute, but Reina stopped his low effort from inside the box.

Villarreal's first quality chance didn't come until two minutes into the first half's stoppage time, when Jose Luis Morales sent the ball just wide of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen's left post.

For yet another match, Barcelona struggled to put it to bed, as neither Lewandowski nor Raphinha capitalised on their respective chances.

Meanwhile, Villarreal lacked a spark in the final third due to the absence of Gerard Moreno through injury. They looked dangerous at times but lacked a final pass in their bid to push for an equaliser.

Hence, Villarreal failed to punish Barcelona, as Samuel Chukwueze found the back of the net late in the game, but his goal was disallowed for offside in the build-up.

With this victory, Barcelona increased the gap on second-placed Real Madrid to 11 points, with Los Blancos having one game in hand. As for the Yellow Submarine, they sit eighth with 31 points from 21 games.