Barcelona: Claudio Bravo; Dani Alves, Piqué (Marc Bartra 82‘), Mathieu, Jordi Alba; Sergi Roberto, Busquets, Iniesta; Munir (Sandro 79’), Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.
Villarreal: Areola; Mario Gaspar, Bonera, Víctor Ruíz, Jaume Costa; Bruno, Tomás Pina (Bakambu 66’); Samu Castillejo (Samuel 79‘), Jonathan Dos Santos, Denis Suárez; Soldado. 4-2-3-1.
Goals:
1-0. 60. Neymar. Controlled Busquets pass and steered shot wide of Areola.
2-0. 75. Luis Suárez (penalty). After Jaume Costa bundled over Munir in area.
3-0. 85. Neymar. Lifted ball over Costa and fired first time shot past keeper.
Yellow cards: Mathieu 27’, Iniesta 37’, Mario 39’, Neymar 47’, Luis Suárez 47’, Piqué 64’, Jaume Costa 69’, Bonera 72’.
Barcelona are back at the top of the table after a 3-0 victory over Villarreal on Sunday afternoon! Luis Enrique’s side had the better of the first half, Areola in particular saving a misguided back-pass from Mario and a fierce shot from Mathieu, although Denis Suárez and Soldado also went close at the other end, and Bravo had to keep out Samu Castillejo just before the break. Dani Alvés tested Areola again after the restart and Luis Suárez headed just over the top, and with an hour on the clock Busquets cut out a Villarreal clearance and played the ball through for Neymar to open the scoring. Soon afterwards Areola saved again from Iniesta, and with a quarter of an hour to go Luis Suárez made it two from the penalty spot after Jaume Costa slid into Munir inside the area. The best was saved for last though, Neymar scoring a spectacular third after lobbing the ball over his marker and firing a first time volley past the visiting keeper, his eleventh of the season in the league keeping him well clear of the likes of Suárez, Ronaldo and Aduríz in the race for the “Pichichi” title. The result means that Barcelona go into the next “clásico” at the Bernabeu stadium following the international break with a three point lead after Real Madrid were beaten by Sevilla later in the evening.