16-year-old Lamine Yamal inspires Barcelona to victory in seven-goal thriller against Villarreal

Villarreal 3-4 Barcelona

Barcelona travelled to Estadio de la Ceramica in the knowledge that it would be a tough fixture, but nobody was prepared for the breathless affair that they and Villarreal put together.

Early on in the match the Yellow Submarine came close on multiple occasions, with Gerard Moreno and Alex Baena coming close. Yet it was Barcelona who struck first, Lamine Yamal collecting from a corner and picking out Gavi at the back post. Not long after, Barcelona raced forward on the counter, with Robert Lewandowski being tackled on the edge of the box. Yet it only found Frenkie de Jong with all the time in the world to fire into the corner.

From that point it seemed logical that Barcelona would take control, but the reality was far from it. Just 25 minutes had passed when Juan Foyth headed in off the post from a corner, and as Villarreal pushed forward, Alfonso Pedraza found Alexander Sorloth at the far post for an easy tap-in.

Half-time came and went, but the match never lost any rhythm, with Pedraza bursting forward again in the 50th minute, laying it left to Baena, who shaped the ball into the far corner.

The turnaround now complete, Barcelona moved up the gears again, and 16-year-old Yamal saw more of the ball. He cut in and fired against the inside of the post once, and lifted the ball into Gavi in the box on the 70th minute mark. Gavi tried to get his shot away, and substitute Ferran Torres had a second effort blocked too, but his third effort was not stopped by Filip Jorgensen.

Just two minutes later, Yamal cut inside again, seeing his effort saved onto the post by Jorgensen again, only this time Robert Lewandowski got onto the rebound for his first goal of the season.

Ansu Fati and Lewandowski had three