Luis García discussed Barcelona’s improvements since last season following their impressive 5-1 victory over Villarreal.
Barcelona continued their flawless start in LaLiga, with forwards Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha each scoring twice in the match on Sunday. Lewandowski struck first, netting two goals within the first 35 minutes. Villarreal managed to respond quickly through Ayoze Pérez, but Pablo Torre extended Barcelona’s lead to 3-1 in the second half, before Raphinha added two more goals to round off the scoreline.
Hansi Flick’s squad extended their winning streak in the league to six games, recovering from their recent 2-1 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League.
With this win, Barcelona remains at the top of the standings with 18 points, keeping a four-point lead over reigning champions Real Madrid, who are in second place. Villarreal, who suffered their first loss of the LaLiga season, currently sits in fifth place with 11 points.
Barcelona’s victory was marred by the injury of goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, who had to be taken off the field on a stretcher shortly before half-time after a fall. The team was already missing new signing Dani Olmo due to a hamstring injury, along with several other key players, including Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal, Fermín López, Ronald Araújo, and Andreas Christensen.
Villarreal posed a significant threat during the match, showing strong counter-attacking capabilities, though they had three goals disallowed for narrow offside calls. The first disallowed goal came early in the eighth minute when Yeremy Pino lobbed Ter Stegen but saw it ruled out.
Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a straightforward finish and followed it up with an acrobatic overhead kick in the 35th minute to double the lead. Having previously set a world record nine years ago by scoring five goals in nine minutes while with Bayern Munich, he now leads the goal-scoring chart in LaLiga with six goals in six games.
Despite the setback, Villarreal kept pushing, and Perez pulled a goal back in the 38th minute. However, Ter Stegen denied Nicolas Pépé a potential equalizer just before the break. Barcelona responded strongly, with Torre scoring in the 58th minute, and Raphinha sealing the victory with two late goals.
Lewandowski had the chance to secure his second LaLiga hat-trick since joining the club in 2022 but hit the post while attempting a penalty following a foul on Lamine Yamal.
This season marks the first time Barcelona has won their opening six matches since the 2017-18 campaign and only the eighth time in their history.