La Liga 18/19: Villareal 4-4 Barcelona - 5 talking points from the match

#3 Barcelona defense torn apart

Umtiti has not fully recovered from his injury

While Barcelona might be more famous for their incredible attackers and midfielders, the truth is that they are no slouches when it comes to defending.

As stated earlier, Ernesto Valverde rested Pique on the night, partnering French teammates Samel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet at the heart of defense.

The World Cup winner has been ravaged by injury this season and is yet to fully match-fit and this showed in his game throughout the night, as the 25-year-old struggled to keep up with the pace of the game and was constantly caught out by the Villareal attackers.

Clement Lenglet for his part has been ultra impressive this season, but for all of his domineering displays, it must be remembered that he is still learning the ropes and has been marshaled for most of the season by the vastly experienced Gerard Pique.

In the Spaniard's absence, neither Umtiti nor Lenglet managed to effectively keep the Villareal attackers at bay, as Simon Chukwueze, Santi Cazorla, Carlos Bacca, and Kal-Toko Ekambi constantly ran rings around them.

The shambolic defensive performance by Barcelona saw them ship in four goals and on another night, it would have cost them thee points, but thankfully they had their attacking teammates to thank for salvaging a point.