Barcelona loses thriller with Villarreal, falls 10 points behind Real Madrid

Barcelona onceagain revealed it is not a championship-caliber group when it yielded twotimes in interruption time to lose a 5-3 thriller with Villarreal in front of its shocked fans on Saturday.

In one of the wildest videogames of the season, Villarreal was up 2-0, then Barcelona roared back with 3 objectives in a 12-minute period to lead 3-2 in the 72nd minute.

But Barcelona’s defense onceagain let it down and brand-new Villarreal arrival Goncalo Guedes leveled on a counterattack in the 84th. Striker Alexander Sorloth, who likewise set up 2 objectives, then discovered the winner in interruption time and José Morales included to Barcelona’s torment.

Barcelona was attempting to bounce back in La Liga from its removal from the Copa del Rey at Athletic Bilbao this week. 

Real Madrid rallied to win at Las Palmas 2-1 without top scorer Jude Bellingham and recover the league lead. It opened up a 10-point space over Barcelona in 3rd.

“This is a big blow,” Xavi stated. “We lost this videogame since of our errors. Today is hard to absorb for me as a coach however likewise for my gamers, who are all sensation actually bad.

“We did the hardest part, which was to turn it around, and we even had more opportunities to rating, however that was when our issues began. We are paying a heavy rate for our errors this season.”

Gerard Moreno opened the scoring near halftime from a pass by Sorloth. Former Barcelona youth gamer Ilias Akhomach took complete benefit of terrible control by João Cancelo, who came on at halftime, to double the benefit.

Ilkay Gundogan pulled one back for Barcelona in the 60th. Substitute Pedri González took a 2nd before an own objective by Eric Baily put the hosts ahead.

Barcelona then looked close to sealing it with a 4th objective before Sorloth introduced Guedes on the flank to beat goalkeeper Iñaki Peña from an angle to make it 3-3. The Norway striker put Villarreal back in front after Barcelona stoppedworking to clear the ball from its location.

“If you are losing 0-2 and then go up 3-2 you cannot provide it away and lose like that,” Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong stated. “This cannot occur to an elite group.”

Cancelo, like De Jong, backed Xavi and attempted to take the blame as gamers.

“It really was a catastrophe,” Cancelo stated. “Those were the worst 45 minutes of my profession.”

Barcelona’s defense, which is missingouton hurt goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is falling apart in January.

Barcelona was squashed by Madrid, 4-1, in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia 2 weeks ago, and on Wednesday it yielded twotimes in additional time to lose at Bilbao, 4-2.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]