Lewandowski double eases Barca woes in Villarreal rout

After Sunday's Clasico defeat and virtual elimination from the Champions League, the Catalans and coach Xavi Hernandez were desperate to prove a point at Camp Nou.

Lewandowski, the top scorer in La Liga, extended his domestic tally to 11 goals and his brace, along with Ansu Fati's strike, came in an eight-minute blitz near the end of the first half which effectively killed the game.

Xavi made five changes from the side which lost to Real Madrid, most notably dropping Sergio Busquets and deploying Frenkie de Jong in the pivot role, where he excelled.

"After the bad results against Inter Milan and Madrid, we needed to win, Villarreal is a good team, 3-0, and a good victory," De Jong told Movistar.

"If you win games, it always helps, the atmosphere in the dressing room is much better, I'm very happy with the victory.

"I don't care where I play, I feel comfortable in any position."

Women's Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas presented her trophy to Camp Nou before kick-off, and Barcelona could have used some of her creativity in the opening stages as Villarreal's defence stood firm.

Arnaut Danjuma had the first chance of note, firing into the side netting after winning space against Jules Kounde. However, the Catalans played their way into the game as De Jong pulled the strings, and with Lewandowski up front, goals are never far away.                   Soothing the pain                                      Just after the half-hour mark Jordi Alba guided Pedri's finely-weighted pass to Lewandowski, whose turn sent two defenders flying out of the picture, and a third flung himself in vain to try and block as the Poland international fired home.

Lewandowski won an award for his scoring exploits on Monday at the Paris gala too, and