Barcelona snap winless streak as Carles Alena scores first Liga goal

A young Lionel Messi plays for FC Barcelona in 2004/05

Injury-plagued FC Barcelona earned their first win in three La Liga matches against Villarreal.

The Catalan side returned to winning ways with a victory over PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League in midweek but recorded just one win in November after a thrilling shock defeat to Real Betis and a draw against Atletico Madrid last weekend.

Ernesto Valverde’s men, who welcomed a Villarreal side that had won just three league games all season, were without Luis Suarez, with the Uruguayan having undergone stem cell treatment on his kneel, but goals from Gerard Pique and Carles Alena secured a 2-0 win.

Re-live the action:

[2 December 2018 19:07 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Barcelona 1-0 Villarreal

80 minutes

Moreno, having moments earlier clattered into Pique, is replaced by Carlos Bacca.

Barcelona make a change, too, bringing on Malcolm for Coutinho.

[2 December 2018 19:09 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Barcelona 1-0 Villarreal

82 minutes

Dembele certainly has the beating of Pedraza in terms of pace. He races past the left back again but his cross is blocked.

[2 December 2018 19:12 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Barcelona 1-0 Villarreal

85 minutes

Another Barcelona attack comes to nothing. Dembele stretches his legs again down the right and picks out Messi. The Argentine, who has had an unusually quiet second half, sees his shot blocked.

[2 December 2018 19:13 · Callum Rice-Coates]

GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Villarreal (Alena)

87 minutes

Messi only needs a moment to make his mark. He plays an inch perfect pass into the path of Alena, and the youngster chips the ball over the onrushing Asenjo. An excellent finish by a player with great potential.

Job done for Barcelona.

[2 December 2018 19:17 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Barcelona 2-0 Villarreal

89 minutes

Villarreal have defended commendably, but their lack of creativity in attack has been exposed here. Barcelona have not hard to work too hard to keep them out. They'll need to address that if they're to move away from the bottom three.

[2 December 2018 19:18 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Barcelona 2-0 Villarreal

90 minutes

Fornals charges into the back of Busquets and goes into the book. A challenge borne of frustration, as time runs out for Villarreal.

[2 December 2018 19:19 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Barcelona 2-0 Villarreal

90+2 minutes

Messi wants to get on the scoresheet. He lines one up on the edge of the box and strikes it well, but Asenjo gets down to save.

[2 December 2018 19:21 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Full time: That's it! Barcelona move to the top of La Liga with an unspectacular but comfortable victory. Goals from Pique and Alena - unlikely scorers, perhaps - enough to see of Villarreal.

[2 December 2018 19:25 · Callum Rice-Coates]

Remarkably, this was Barcelona's first clean sheet in La Liga since August. They'll hope that there are more to come. For now, they sit top of the table. Sevilla, though, will return to the summit if they beat Alaves later.

[2 December 2018 19:30 · Callum Rice-Coates]

That's it for our coverage of tonight's game.

Thanks for joining us!