Barcelona returned to winning ways in La Liga against Villarreal in efficient fashion. The Catalans scored two goals, one in each half, with Gerard Pique opening the scoring and Carles Alena sealing the win. Perhaps even more importantly, Barcelona held its first La Liga clean sheet since late August.
Once again Ernesto Valverde had to work around a busy injury bug. The defense picked itself with only four senior defenders healthy while in midfield the trio of Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitiu0107 and Arturo Vidal returned. In attack, Lionel Messi was joined by Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho on the wings.