Agency, March 3: Lamine Yamal’s brilliant hat-trick powered Barcelona to a commanding victory in Spain’s La Liga on Saturday night, as they defeated Villarreal 4–1 to extend their lead at the top of the table to four points.
Playing at their home ground, Barcelona took control early with Yamal at the heart of the attack. The young star opened the scoring in the 28th minute, finishing a precise pass from Fermín López to give the hosts the lead. He doubled the advantage in the 37th minute, once again capitalizing on an assist from López to make it 2–0 before halftime.
Villarreal responded in the 49th minute when Pape Gueye converted Santiago Mouriño’s assist to reduce the deficit to 2–1 and briefly revive the contest. However, Barcelona quickly regained control. In the 69th minute, Yamal completed his hat-trick with a composed finish from Pedri’s pass, restoring a comfortable two-goal cushion.
Robert Lewandowski sealed the emphatic win deep into injury time, scoring from Jules Koundé’s assist to make it 4–1.
With the victory, Barcelona move to 64 points from 26 matches and remain at the top of the La Liga standings. Villarreal, meanwhile, sit fourth with 51 points from the same number of games.
