Barcelona had the chance to close the gap on league leaders Real Madrid to within three points, but after a poor showing from Luis Enrique's men, they could only manage a draw. Nicola Sansone opened the scoring for Villarreal in the 49th minute from a counter attack and Barcelona had to rely on the magic of Lionel Messi after the Argentine scored from a beautiful free kick to salvage a point for them.
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Despite Barcelona dominating possession entirely in the first half, they could not capitalise on their chances with the match ending 0-0 at half time, this being the 5th time in six matches Barcelona have not scored before half time.
With Croatian star Ivan Rakitic left out of the squad amid rumours that he might be on the move to either Manchester City or Manchester United, summer signing Andre Gomes came into midfield and was disappointing yet again.
The trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez who are usually a threat to any defense they play against were just not able to click especially Neymar and Suarez who have not been at their best for quite some time now. Even their new signings in Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez have not been convincing enough for Barcelona so far.
Despite Barcelona's failure to penetrate through Villarreal's defense in open play, a lot of credit must go to the Yellow Submarine for this match. Bruno Soriano, who has been one of the best midfielders in the La Liga this season, frustrated Barcelona all night with his pin point passing. Along with him Manu Trigueros and Jonathan dos Santos also worked incredibly hard to contain the visitors.
Following that draw, Barcelona have dropped to the third place in the league standings and with Real Madrid playing a game less Barcelona could be eight points behind the Los Blancos. However, the La Liga is still not reached its half way stage yet and there is still a long way to go, but with Real Madrid unbeaten in 39 games they hold the upper hand in the La Liga.
