Nigerian international Samuel Chukwueze played all the minutes for Villarreal when they played host to title-chasing Barcelona at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday.
The exciting winger however was unable to prevent his side from losing 4 – 1 to a much spirited Barcelona led by the greatest player in the world Lionel Messi.
Barcelona finds themselves in front early in the game, courtesy of an own goal by Pau Torres after he diverted a low cross by Antoine Griezmann into his own net.
Villarreal canceled Barcelona’s advantage almost immediately when Chukwueze sent a diagonal ball into the path of Paco Alcacer who then squared it for Santi Cazorla.
Ter Stegen was well-positioned and he parried Cazorla’s shot but to the direction of Gerard Moreno who then latched it into the roof of the net.
Chukwueze and his teammates fell behind again after Lionel Messi ran with the ball from the halfway line with a stunning dribble and set up Luis Suarez who scored a beautiful curler from the edge of the box.
The game was taken beyond Villarreal when Messi set up Griezmann to make it 3 – 1 with a wonderful chip just before the half time.
Teenager Ansu Fathi wrapped up the scoring for Barcelona in the second as Villarreal hard caused them any problems.
The defeat was the first for Chukwueze’s Villarreal after the restart, but they are still in a good position to qualify for next season’s UEFA Europa League.
While Barcelona reduced the gap between them and Real Madrid to four-point, Villarreal kept their fifth place after 6th placed Getafe played out a goalless draw Osasuna.
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