Villarreal stun Barcelona to secure European football for next season

Villarreal shocked Barcelona with a 2-0 victory at the Camp Nou in the final La Liga matchday of the season to seal their first win over La Blaugrana in La Liga in sixteen years, and secure their qualification for next season’s Europa Conference League. The Yellow Submarine started the day in seventh place, one point ahead of Athletic Bilbao in eighth.

Villarreal needed Athletic not to win away at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan against Sevilla to guarantee themselves European football for next season. Ad/> That proved to go in Villarreal’s favour, as Athletic suffered a 1-0 defeat.

TransfersBarcelona line up Lewandowski swoop — Paper RoundYESTERDAY AT 21:53 Barcelona, meanwhile, had nothing to play for as Xavi’s side had already secured a second-place finish in La Liga. Eager to go out in style in front of the fans in their last home match of the campaign, Barcelona made the better start, and penned Villarreal in their own half for the majority of the first period Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli was called into action early on, as the Argentinian denied Ferran Torres’s half-volley at the near post.

For all of Barcelona’s dominance in possession, Villarreal looked dangerous in transition, and Unai Emery’s side took a shock lead against the run of play four minutes before half-time. Alfonso Pedraza advanced from left-back to make a run into the box to latch onto Dani Parejo’s through ball from midfield, before he finished well beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen at the near post to get his fourth goal of the season.

Villarreal then doubled their advantage on 55 minutes, as Adama Traore’s clearance fell right to the feet of Moi Gomez inside the box, and the right winger had an easy finish from close range. Barcelona thought they