Two Dutchmen distinguished themselves during Barça’s victory against Villarreal (3-0), but with contrasting performances.
TOPS
L’indispensable Frenkie de Jong
Xavi can consider himself lucky that the Dutch midfielder fought to stay this summer, after having long been announced on the departure, his leaders wanting to free up the payroll available for recruits. The former Ajax (25) had an excellent match against Villarreal this Thursday evening (3-0 victory), both technically correct, coherent defensively and good in percussion, proving that he was the holder ideal as a defensive midfielder.
The inevitable Robert Lewandowski
Already at the top of the La Liga goalscoring table before the match, the Polish striker scored two more goals, his tenth and eleventh of the season. He is now at 15 achievements in 14 games played in all competitions in the Catalan jersey. ‘Lewy’ confirms he hasn’t lost any of his brilliance, days after receiving the Gerd Müller trophy for top scorer after his stunning 2021-2022 season with Bayern Munich.
FLOPS
Arnaut Danjuma, a half-time and then leaves
If the Villarreal team had little hope of holding the ball on the Camp Nou lawn, they could on the other hand rely on well-executed counterattacks to worry Barça. But that assumed that the two attackers Arnaut Danjuma and Nicolas Jackson hold the ball a minimum and play the shots well, which they failed to do. After his double this weekend against Osasuna, we could legitimately expect better from Danjuma who lost too many balls before leaving his place at the break.
Villarreal have still not chained two La Liga victories
Unai Emery’s team is struggling to approach European places this season in La Liga, the fault of an inability to chain two wins in a row. That of the weekend against Osasuna (2-0) was not confirmed this evening by men in yellow who were far too timid, unable to get chances on the Camp Nou lawn. In their defence, Raul Albiol’s teammates have played seven away games in ten days, the fault of the work in their stadium, the Ceramics.