Barca 4-1 Villarreal: barca claim Yamal hat-trick and move four clear
barca moved four points clear at the top of La Liga after Lamine Yamal scored the first hat-trick of his career in a 4-1 win over Villarreal. The match at Camp Nou was played on Saturday, February 28 at 4: 15pm (15: 15 GMT) in Barcelona, Spain, with build-up coverage beginning from 12: 30 GMT.
Barca triumph at Camp Nou
Barcelona beat visitors Villarreal 4-1 to move four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. Barcelona have 64 points while second-placed Real are on 60 points before they host Getafe on Monday. Villarreal remain third on 51.
Yamal's three goals
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring in the 28th minute after Fermin Lopez robbed Pape Gueye and slipped a pass down the right for the 18-year-old to finish low inside the left post. He doubled the lead nine minutes later with a dazzling solo run, controlling a long ball on the right wing before cutting inside past Sergi Cardona and Alberto Moleiro to curl an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Pape Gueye pulled one back from close range in the 49th minute, but Villarreal missed chances to equalise and Yamal completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute with another counter attack. Robert Lewandowski came off the bench to add a fourth in added time, tapping in from Jules Koundé's low cross from the right.
Pre-match form and concerns
Who: Barcelona vs Villarreal. What: La Liga. Where: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain. When: Saturday, February 28 at 4: 15pm (15: 15 GMT). A win would provisionally take Barcelona four points ahead of Real Madrid, who host mid-table Getafe on Monday night.
Barcelona had a mini-wobble earlier this month as they were thrashed 4-0 by Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal before losing 2-1 to Girona, allowing Madrid to briefly occupy top spot. Barca bounced back with a 3-0 win over Levante last weekend, while Madrid slipped to a surprise defeat at Osasuna.
Third-placed Villarreal trail Barcelona by 10 points. The visitors arrived high on confidence after beating Valencia 2-1 in their last outing and winning three of their last four La Liga matches. Villarreal have also won their last two away games against Barcelona.
Striker form and squad issues
Barcelona hosted Villarreal amid concerns about the form of strikers Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres. Lewandowski, 37, has declined rapidly this season and has endured some fitness issues. Torres, 25, is on course for a personal record for goals, but most of them came in a purple patch towards the end of last year.
Barca still lead La Liga for goals scored this season, with 67, with 10 different players having scored two or more. Nobody has more than Torres on 12. Torres has just three goals in his last 15 appearances across all competitions and his all-round game is lacking, frequently losing the ball. Lewandowski has five goals in his last 18 games and seems less mobile and at times a peripheral presence.
Lewandowski said: "With so many matches rotation at striker is natural, and I think Ferran and I can benefit from the current situation. " He added: "When you play 90 minutes every three days, your whole life is about recovery, now the balance is a little better. I'm tired but I'm not worn out. " Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has not used England international Marcus Rashford much in that position, with the Manchester United loanee more keen on operating from the left.
Bayern, Kane and the Der Klassiker
Elsewhere, Harry Kane scored twice and Bayern Munich opened an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga with a 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday. Joshua Kimmich let fly with his left boot to score the winner with a volley in the 87th minute, just four minutes after Daniel Svensson equalised for Dortmund with a brilliant volley inside the left post.
Nico Schlotterbeck put Dortmund 1-0 up at the break, but Serge Gnabry set up Kane's response and the England captain got his second from the penalty spot after a foul by Schlotterbeck on Josip Stanisic, taking his league tally to 30 goals this season. Kane has scored two goals or more for the fourth successive game and is threatening Robert Lewandowski's season record of 41.
Bundesliga relegation battles and draws
Werder Bremen finally ended their 13-game run without a win in the Bundesliga by beating relegation rivals Heidenheim 2-0 in their bottom-of-the-table scrap. Bremen missed a host of chances before Jovan Milosevic scored from Romano Schmid's cross in the 57th minute, and an own goal from Hennes Behrens in stoppage time confirmed Bremen's first win after three defeats under their new coach, Daniel Thioune. The result lifted Bremen above Wolfsburg into the relegation playoff place.
Wolfsburg, who haven't won any of their past six games, visit Stuttgart on Sunday. Heidenheim remained bottom, nine points from safety after St Pauli held on for a 1-0 win at high-flying Hoffenheim. Mathias Pereira Lage scored for St Pauli before the break, lifting the Hamburg-based club out of the relegation zone after its third win from four games.
Kevin Diks scored a stoppage-time penalty for Borussia Mönchengladbach to beat Union Berlin 1-0 and end Galdbach's seven-game winless run. Jarell Quansah scored late for Bayer Leverkusen to salvage a 1-1 draw with Mainz, canceling Sheraldo Becker's second-half volley for Mainz. The draw is a blow to Leverkusen's hopes of reaching fourth place in the race for Champions League qualification; Leverkusen remained sixth, and both Stuttgart and Leipzig could pull further away. Leipzig visit Hamburg on Sunday.
Other Spanish fixtures
Later on Saturday in Spain, Atlético Madrid, in fourth, travel to bottom-placed Oviedo. Inter's lead in Serie A is already up to 10 points and can stretch that to 13, albeit having played a game more, by winning at home against Genoa.
Closing: Lamine Yamal's 18-year-old breakthrough and Harry Kane's scoring run were the headline moments across Spain and Germany on Saturday, while a series of results left several clubs facing fresh pressure in both La Liga and the Bundesliga.
