Barcelona 3-0 Aston Villa match review: Lamine Yamal and Raphinha dismantle Unai Emery's unbeaten side
FC Barcelona emphatically silenced any doubts in Europe over whether they had truly moved on from their humbling against Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, as they dismantled an unbeaten Aston Villa side in the Spotify Camp Nou on Tuesday. Despite facing a side lying second in the UEFA Champions League group stage, Hansi Flick’s side weathered a tough first half to dominate the English visitors and win 3-0.
They punished an ineffective Unai Emery’s side with captain Raphinha grabbing a brace in the second half, while Lamine Yamal opened the scoring in the seventh minute. Despite the Spanish giants picking up a clean sheet in Europe with a makeshift backline, the only negative note of the evening came when Rodri suffered some injury concerns in the first half and was replaced at the break.
Lamine Yamal strikes swiftly, Villa resort to a gritty first half
Fresh from their emphatic 6-1 thrashing of Deportivo Alaves, Barcelona had no time to waste in stifling the opposition. In the seventh minute, the full-throttle pressing game of Flick paid dividends as Zion Suzuki made a disastrous error with a misplaced pass to central midfielder Joao Gomes. Yamal was quick to react and scored calmly past the keeper to take the lead 1-0.
With this early goal, Emery’s side decided to play a gritty game. They constantly disrupted Blaugrana’s passing game by lunging at their players.
Ian Maatsen received a yellow card in the 11th minute for pulling down Yamal on the wing.
Emiliano Buendia was shown a yellow card in the 31st minute for crashing into Fermín López after he won the ball back.
Finally, in the 44th minute Nicolas Jackson got a yellow card for showing his studs to Pau Cubarsi causing a scuffle down the touchline. He managed to escape a red card from VAR but received a yellow card along with Raphinha.
Despite the numerous interruptions and having to replace Rodri in the first half with young 19-year-old Marc Bernal due to injury concerns, Barcelona remained calm.
Raphinha goes on a 12-minute rampage, Joao Cancelo delivers a masterclass
The second half saw Barcelona dominate. Bernal slotted in well with Pedri to control the game with 63% of possession. They completed an incredible 569/614 passes (92% accuracy). This helped stifle Villa and they were unable to get out of their own half.
The pressure told in the 52nd minute as Fermin Lopez continued his form and found Raphinha. The Brazilian captain calmly controlled the ball twice before firing a low shot that nestled in the corner past the keeper to make it 2-0.
Just twelve minutes later, Barcelona struck what was arguably the goal of the game. Joao Cancelo overlapped on the left and delivered an incredible outside of the boot trivela cross. Raphinha timed his run perfectly into the six-yard box and slammed his first-time shot into the back of the net to score his brace in the 64th minute. He and Yamal have both scored four goals in the last four days.
Zero worries for Flick with a clean sheet, but worries over Rodri
One of the best things for Flick to see was the zero on the scoreboard for Aston Villa. They had no choice but to start with an inexperienced back four due to Jules Kounde, Eric Garcia, Andreas Christensen and Xavi Espart being sidelined. Brian Farinas played an impressive 82 minutes at right-back before Alejandro Balde came on. Pau Cubarsi played well with 87 accurate passes, and Gerard Martin who has turned his fortunes around played well with 73 accurate passes. Finally, Cancelo.
Together they were dominant in tackles winning 92% (12/13). They made 17 clearances and 11 interceptions. They also only let Villa have one shot on target despite having a dangerous front three. This was easily dealt with by Joan Garcia. They had such a big cushion they also brought off Raphinha, Pedri and Fermin in the 69th minute to bring on Gabriel Jesus, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi.
Everyone in Barcelona will be watching the medical room at the Ciutat Esportiva. It would be devastating if they lost Rodri for any period of time with Atlético Madrid on the horizon, however, we can be hopeful that it was just a precaution taken by Flick. Having scored nine goals in two games they look like they are back to being European contenders.
