FC Barcelona end season with dire defeat

 

FC Barcelona’s season ended with a whimper as Villarreal sealed a 2-0 LaLiga win at Camp Nou on Sunday.

The Catalan club’s spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League was secured earlier in May.

But manager Xavi will be disappointed his side have ended the campaign with just a solitary point from their final two games.

They went behind late in the first half through Alfonso Pedraza’s strike, before Moi Gomez sealed maximum points for Unai Emery’s men in the second half.

The result meant second-placed Barca ended the campaign a whopping 13 points behind champions Real Madrid, while Villarreal finished seventh.

Adama Traore flashed over and Ferran Torres was denied by Geronimo Rulli inside a bright opening 10 minutes for the hosts.

Barca looked the more likely to open the scoring inside the opening half hour.

But all they had to show for their dominance was a Sergio Busquets strike that flew narrowly over the crossbar.

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The inability to take advantage of their superiority was punished four minutes before the interval as Alfonso Pedraza latched onto Daniel Parejo’s pass and steered past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Villarreal doubled their advantage in the 55th minute when Gomez lashed into the roof of net after cutting out Traore’s dismal attempted clearance.

Frenkie de Jong had an effort ruled out for offside late on as Barca tried in vain to find their way back into the game.

Results and standings in 2021/2022 Spanish Primera Division after final match day fixtures on Sunday:

Friday:
Rayo Vallecano	2	UD Levante	4
Real Madrid	0	Real Betis	0
Saturday:
Valencia	2	Celta Vigo	0
Sunday:
Elche	3	Getafe	1
Osasuna	0	RCD Mallorca	2
Alaves	0	Cadiz	1
Granada	0	Espanyol	0
Barcelona	0	Villarreal	2
Sevilla	1	Athletic Bilbao	0
Real Sociedad	1	Atletico Madrid	2

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Real Madrid	38	26	8	4	80	31	86
2	Barcelona	38	21	10	7	68	38	73
3	Atletico Madrid	38	21	8	9	65	43	71
4	Sevilla	38	18	16	4	53	30	70
5	Real Betis	38	19	8	11	62	40	65
6	Real Sociedad	38	17	11	10	40	37	62
7	Villarreal	38	16	11	11	63	37	59
8	Athletic Bilbao	38	14	13	11	43	36	55
9	Valencia	38	11	15	12	48	53	48
10	Osasuna	38	12	11	15	37	51	47
11	Celta Vigo	38	12	10	16	43	43	46
12	Rayo Vallecano	38	11	9	18	39	50	42
13	Elche	38	11	9	18	40	52	42
14	Espanyol	38	10	12	16	40	53	42
15	Getafe	38	8	15	15	33	41	39
16	RCD Mallorca	38	10	9	19	36	63	39
17	Cadiz	38	8	15	15	35	51	39
18	Granada	38	8	14	16	44	61	38
19	UD Levante	38	8	11	19	51	76	35
20	Alaves	38	8	7	23	31	65	31

 

 

(dpa/NAN)