Barcelona are back to winning ways in this season’s Champions League thanks to a fun 3-0 victory against Aston Villa at Camp Nou on Tuesday night. The Blaugrana scored early goals in each half and survived a strong test from a well-coached and physical Villa side, and Raphinha and Lamine Yamal led the way as the Catalans remain in strong contention for a Top 8 finish in the League Phase.
Barça made a brilliant start to the contest with a goal
after just seven minutes, as Lamine Yamal chased down a bad pass from Aston Villa’s João Gomes inside his own box and found the bottom corner to put the Catalans ahead.
The Blaugrana looked poised to add to their lead and had another big chance from a Villa mistake at the back by goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, who redeemed himself with a strong save to deny Anthony Gordon.
Barça couldn’t capitalize on their early momentum, however, and the rest of the half was an intense, physical, back-and-forth battle between two sides who pressed each other high and mostly denied the other team’s attack.
Villa had a ton of joy with long balls in behind Barça’s high line, but Joan Garcia did a masterful job as a sweeper keeper and also made a big save to deny Johan Manzambi’s effort on the counter.
The home team had the lead at the break but the game was far from over, even though Villa should have gone down to 10 men just before halftime for a nasty challenge by Nicolas Jackson on Pau Cubarsí, but the Villa striker somehow escaped with only a yellow.
Barça made a repeat of the first half with a strong start and a goal just seven minutes into the period thanks to a great pass by Fermín López to find Raphinha, who worked the ball into his left foot and fired a deflected shot into the bottom corner to double the lead.
The home team did a better job of controlling the chaos compared to the first half and looked more solid in midfield, and Joan Garcia continued to make key contributions as a sweeper to stop the Villa counter-attacks. Barça also added a third thanks to a wonderful run and cross by João Cancelo to give Raphinha a tap-in, and the win was pretty much in the bag with a half-hour to go.
Villa had nothing to lose and took risks going forward looking for a way back, and their best chance came on a corner-kick that Ross Barkley headed against the post. Barça had chances to add a fourth on the counter but couldn’t find the net again, but were able to keep a clean sheet in Europe for the first in 19 months as the final whistle came to seal a big win at home.
Despite a few nervy moments at the back against a good Villa side, Barça deserved the win and used their best traits as a team — high press, intensity, pace up front — to earn a victory that will help quiet some of the noise and boost their confidence ahead of a monster La Liga clash with Atlético Madrid this weekend.
Well done, boys!
