Barcelona – Villarreal

Barcelona will inflict another defeat on Villarreal

Barcelona this season is taking part in the traditional title race with Real Madrid. The rivals have already repeatedly passed the baton of leadership to one another. Now, in terms of leadership, the turn has come for Barcelona. Moreover, the first place in the La Liga table has returned to the Catalan club after the terrible stress it endured last week. Then first a cup defeat to Atletico Madrid 0-4, and then a 1-2 loss to Girona put Hansi Flick's side in a tough position in two national competitions. Fortunately, the misstep in Madrid, in the bigger picture, can still be corrected in the return leg at the beginning of March, and the victory last Sunday over Levante together with Real Madrid's defeat to Osasuna has already allowed the Blaugrana to lead the title race. Villarreal this season is very good in one part of the football calendar and terrible in another. In the first case, the Yellow Submarine has achieved maximum stability in winning against bottom and mid-table teams in La Liga. In the second, Villarreal is just as relentless in the stability of their defeats to the leaders of the Spanish championship. Moreover, this squad has shown itself in the Champions League in a catastrophic fashion, where, like Kairat Almaty, it has earned only one point in eight group-stage matches. Bookmakers have made the home team the favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.30 on their victory. Barcelona in the first leg fairly easily beat Villarreal 2-0. The goals were scored by Rafinha and Lamine Yamal, and the Yellow Submarine played with ten men from the 39th minute. This allowed the Catalans to hold the ball for 80% of the match. It is worth noting that besides that match, Villarreal in this La Liga season has lost to Real Madrid twice and to Betis and Atletico Madrid once each. All the mentioned defeats were by a margin of two goals. Given such statistics of the Yellow Submarine in matches against strong opponents, should we take seriously the fact that they will go to Catalonia after victories over Levante and Valencia? Obviously, Barcelona will inflict another defeat on Villarreal.