FC Barcelona opened an 11-point lead at the top of LaLiga courtesy of a 1-0 win over Villarreal CF on Sunday evening.
Two changes for Barcelona from the 3-0 win over Sevilla saw Alejandro Balde and Franck Kessie come in for Jordi Alba and the injured Sergio Busquets.
Barcelona carved out the first opening on two minutes when a through ball by Pedri released Robert Lewandowski in-behind, but veteran goalkeeper Pepe Reina thwarted the striker from point-blank range.
Reina was eventually breached on 18 minutes as Pedri linked up with Lewandowski on the edge of the box before slotting into the bottom-corner off the forward's cutback.
Villarreal struggled to contain the patterns from the Catalans and nearly conceded again after Lewandowski darted in behind from Frenkie de Jong's lofted ball and brought another save out of Reina.
A substitution for the host in the last ten minutes of the half saw Francis Coquelin stretchered off and Nigerian international Samuel Chukwueze introduced.
The Yellow Submarine got a huge chance to draw level on the stroke of halftime as Jose Luis Morales broke free down the left of the area and dragged into the side-netting.
Barcelona were eager to extend their lead a little after halftime, with Lewandowski snapping at a pass from De Jong across the face of goal.
Another opportunity fell for the Blaugrana in the 63rd minute as Lewandowski's penetrative pass found Raphinha, who steered his effort just wide of the mark.
With the tempo balanced in the final stages, Barca lived dangerously as Chukwueze sneaked into the area and slotted home only for the offside flag to go up three minutes from time.
Villarreal's confidence was high in the closing seconds and pushed for the equaliser, but the Catalans held out and confirmed the win to go 11-points clear at the top of the table.
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