“B in Barcelona stands for bottling”, “Manchester United of Spain” - Social media explodes as Barcelona concede twice after 100th minute to lose 5-3

Villarreal pulled off an incredible comeback to beat Barcelona 5-3 in La Liga on Saturday (January 27), with La Blaugrana falling apart in injury time to concede two goals. The match lasted over 100 minutes, with an incredible seven goals flying in in the second half.

Gerard Moreno put the Yellow Submarine ahead on the cusp of half-time, hushing the home crowd at the Olimpic Lluis Companys stadium. Nine minutes into the second half, former Barca player Ilias Akhomach scored for Villarreal to make it 2-0.

Then, La Blaugrana fought back fiercely. In just 11 minutes, they scored three times. Ilkay Gundogan and Pedri scored one each, thanks to deflections from a Villareal defense that couldn't seem to keep their wall up. An own goal from Eric Bailly put Barcelona ahead 3-2 as the defender headed the ball into his own net from a freekick.

Barca seemed set to win, but Villarreal had other plans as substitute Goncalo Guedes scored to make it 3-3, as the hosts' defense couldn't hold off counter-attacks. Things got more heated when Barca were denied a penalty that could have given them the lead. Instead, their inability to stop Villarreal on the counter saw them stumble, as the visitors went on to score twice after the 100th minute.

Playing inside a shambled Barcelona box, a poor clearance saw Villareal get the ball back, and it fell for Alexander Sorloth, who could only manage to scuff his first shot. The ball fell kindly for the striker once more, and he buried it past the keeper to put the Yellow Submarine in the lead.

With Barca pushing players forward to find a goal to level the game, Villareal hit back on another counter, with Jose Morales netting their fifth goal. Fans reacted to the frenzied match on X (formerly Twitter), with one saying:

"Barcelona are the Manchester United of Spain."

Another chimed in:

"The B in Barcelona stands for Bottling. Can never be Liverpool"

Here is a selection of their posts:

The rival watch group said:

The scenes were shocking for fans watching:

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Xavi under pressure after Barcelona's 5-3 loss to Villarreal

Barcelona manager Xavi will have to face tough questions following his team's 5-3 defeat at home against Villarreal. The loss comes on the heels of their exit from both domestic cup competitions in the space of 10 days. They suffered a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana final and a 4-2 Copa del Rey exit at the hands of Athletic Bilbao.

La Blaugrana can't seem to keep the goals out at the moment, and their defensive displays have been shambolic at times. The club's officials recently expressed their faith in Xavi as manager; but with results like this, their confidence might fade quickly.

While it's unlikely that Xavi will be fired immediately, he will need to turn his side's fortunes around, or he could end up being dismissed by the summer.