Villarreal beat Barcelona to clinch top-five spot

Goals from Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez were not enough to prevent recently crowned La Liga champions Barcelona losing at home to Villarreal.

The visitors clinched a place in the top five and next season’s Champions League with the comeback success.

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Hansi Flick’s side had secured a 28th top flight title on Thursday with a 2-0 win over rivals Espanyol, but didn’t look particularly hungover after celebrating with 650,000 fans on the streets of Barcelona on Friday.

Though former Newcastle and Leicester striker Ayoze Perez converted Nicolas Pepe’s cross to give Villarreal a fourth-minute lead, the hosts responded well to take a half-time lead.

Remarkably, despite winning a league and cup double, Barcelona have now conceded first in 20 games in all competitions this season, but have gone on to win nine of those games and draw two.

Teenager Yamal struck his ninth league goal of the season with a trademark finish, cutting inside the defender before curling a low left-footed strike into the far corner

Fermin put Barca ahead in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time, less than a minute after Yamal smacked the crossbar following an astonishing piece of skill.

A cross was cleared out to Fermin on the edge of the penalty area and he needed just two touches, one to control and another to shoot, before sending a stinging half-volley past Luiz Junior in the visitor’s goal.

Villarreal found themselves under pressure for much of the first half, but levelled five minutes after the break when Santi Comesana ran on to Yeremy Pino’s perfect through-ball and dinked over the onrushing Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Knowing victory would put them eight points clear of sixth-placed Real Betis with a game to spare, the visitors rode their luck before substitute Tajon Buchanan finished a low cross at the far post for the clincher.

A total of 26 goals have now been scored in the last four meetings between Barcelona (14 goals) and Villarreal (12) in La Liga, more than any other fixture since the start of last season.