Barcelona ended their season with limp 2-0 dwelling defeat on Sunday evening in opposition to a brutally environment friendly Villarreal facet.
While the hosts had been assured a second-place end in a marketing campaign which supervisor Xavi admitted ‘may have been worse’, Villarreal’s participation in European soccer subsequent season relied upon this time period’s Champions League semi-finalists bettering Athletic Club’s end result away to Sevilla.
Despite a scarcity of incentives, Barcelona began effectively. Predictably dominating possession however urgent all around the pitch to win it again sharply. However, this proactive strategy left house behind a excessive backline for the yellow shirts to dash into.
Midway by the primary half, Sergio Busquets was caught receiving a horrible go from Clement Lenglet, sparking a three-v-two breakaway in Villarreal’s favour which Dani Parejo squandered with a stray ball of his personal.
By the cusp of half-time, Parejo had emphatically discovered his vary. With Dani Alves lured out of place by Manu Trigueros’ intelligent motion infield, Parejo popped a wonderfully weighted go into the trail of the onrushing Alfonso Pedraza. Goal-side of a dozing Adama Traore, the left-back steadied himself and fired Villarreal into the lead with their second shot of the match.
? @VillarrealCFen take the lead in #BarcaVillarreal.
⚽️ @Alfonsopedraza9 ⚽️#LaLigaSantander | #DesenlaceLaLiga pic.twitter.com/C6L1KY0uKP
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) May 22, 2022
Rather than rejig their strategy, if something Xavi’s facet had been extra intent on executing a dangerous man-marking technique. And so, Villarreal doubled their lead with a strikingly acquainted passage of play.
Once once more Alves was cajoled away from his right-back slot, leaving Traore scampering after Pedraza. The Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee tracked his man on this event however sliced a slashed clearance straight to the toes of Moi Gomez. With time to take a contact contained in the penalty space, Gomez rifled in a Fifty fifth-minute second with Villarreal’s third shot.
Villarreal boss Unai Emery had misplaced all 13 of his earlier managerial visits to Camp Nou in a horror monitor file stretching again a decade and a half. On a triumphant night, Emery broke his curse, guiding Villarreal to a seventh-place end – and the Europa Conference League – with a parsimonious and punishing efficiency typical of his facet’s greatest shows this season.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 4/10 – Despite the ever-narrowing angle, Ter Stegen did not supply a lot to rebuff Pedraza’s opener and was helpless for Gomez’s second.
RB: Dani Alves – 4/10 – Crept into an more and more central place because the match wore on, Alves repeatedly tried to arc the identical extremely troublesome cross from deep which did not come off.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 7/10 – Just 12 days after being taken to hospital for a head harm, Araujo confirmed no in poor health results upon his return, steaming across the pitch with aggression and accuracy.
CB: Clement Lenglet – 4/10 – One of a number of gamers who may have performed their last sport for the membership, Lenglet probably signed off with an error-strewn show typical of his time in Catalonia.
LB: Jordi Alba – 5/10 – A recurring presence within the last third, Alba was typically in the proper place with out fairly discovering the proper go to select.
CM: Frenkie de Jong – 4/10 – Darting ahead from midfield to offer a late addition within the field, De Jong’s involvement was mainly periphery.
CM: Sergio Busquets – 5/10 – Dropping very deep to lubricate Barcelona’s build-up, Busquets was as slick as ever in possession however much less fluid and fluent off the ball.
CM: Gavi – 5/10 – Provided tigerish urgent however provided little chunk in possession.
RW: Adama Traore – 2/10 – What started as a disciplined show was warped into a listing of defensive negligence throughout the house of ten minutes on both facet of half-time.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 4/10 – Invariably smothered on the sporadic events Barcelona snuck the ball by Villarreal’s banks of 4.
LW: Ferran Torres – 6/10 – Unsettling the visiting rearguard when he gathered tempo with the ball at his toes, Torres was a whisker away from profitable a penalty when Barcelona had been trailing 1-0.
SUB: Ansu Fati (57′ for Aubameyang) – 5/10 – Struggled to exert an affect on proceedings regardless of his stellar current file off the bench.
SUB: Ousmane Dembele (57′ for Traore) – 5/10 – Flitted out and in of the competition with restricted affect ushered out vast.
SUB: Riqui Puig (71′ for Gavi) – 4/10 – Overcomplicated his play as he tried to pressure the breakthrough with each contact.
SUB: Memphis Depay (71′ for Torres) – 5/10
SUB: Oscar Minguez (81′ for Alves) – N/A