Friday, May 18th, 2012
It is a tired cliche to say that a week is a long time in football, but a week that started with front page headlines of rifts in the Real Madrid camp that could potentially harm their chances in the title run in, finished with one handle of the championship trophy already being drapped in white ribbons as Barcelona failed to win for the sixth time in 10 away matches this season.
Lionel Messi was for once off target with Barca’s best chance of the first-half, the Argentine’s chip over Diego Lopez drifting just past the post, but it was the hosts who had the better of the opening period and Victor Valdes had to be alert to divert Marcos Senna’s drive wide before Gonzalo had a goal ruled out for offside.
The visitors were clearly struggling with the after effect of their effort against Real on Wednesday night but did imporve greatly after the break, particularly after the introduction of Alexis Sanchez and Cristian Tello.
Diego Lopez did brilliantly to deflect a Cesc Fabregas effort onto the bar before the chance that Barca had been waiting for arrived with just three minutes remaining. Messi embarked on a tradmark dash inside the Villarreal box but after his intial shot was parried, Fabregas blazed over from 10 yards out.
The point is another huge boost for Villarreal in their battle for survival after Monday night’s 3-0 win over Sporting Gijon, but for Barca a fourth consecutive title slips ever further away.
Tags: Barcelona, Villarreal
