Villarreal 1-3 Barcelona: Blaugrana player ratings as late strikes see visitors snatch nervy victory | La Liga 2021-22

Barcelona snatched a late 3-1 victory to Villarreal in La Liga on Saturday.

Memphis Depay and Philippe Coutinho scored in the dying moments of the match to snatch all three points after Samuel Chukwueze had canceled out Frenkie de Jong's opener.

In a cagey opening stanza, Memphis Depay missed two glorious chances for the visitors while Gavi saw an early header parried away by Geronimo Rulli.

De Jong broke the deadlock just three minutes into the restart, although Chukwueze leveled the proceedings for the Yellow Submarine roughly half an hour later.

With the clock winding down and Blaugrana unable to force a winner, a draw seemed to be on the cards. However, Depay put his team in front in the 87th minute with a cool finish after they caught Villarreal at the back.

Then, in stoppage-time, Juan Foyth caught Philippe Coutinho inside the area and the Brazilian nonchalantly dispatched the ensuing penalty to put the game to bed.

Two league games, two wins for Xavi, whose tenure is off to a fine start.

Here are the player ratings for Barcelona:

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Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 6.5/10

The Barcelona custodian had no chance with Chukwueze's goal but was otherwise untested.

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Ronald Araujo - 7.5/10

A workhorse in defense, the Uruguayan frustrated Villarreal with his positioning and excellent reading of the game, making five clearances and four tackles.

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Gerard Pique - 7.5/10

He dealt well with Danjuma but was beaten by a lofted cross for Villarreal's goal. Pique was also booked late in the first half.

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Eric Garcia - 7/10

He appeared to foul Raul Albiol inside the area but penalty appeals were turned down. Garcia also made one nice block on Chukwueze late on.

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Jordi Alba - 6/10

A rusty game for the Spaniard, who was roughhoused a few times by Villarreal players and also went into the book for a rash challenge himself. He was taken off after pulling a muscle midway through the second half.

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Nico Gonzalez - 7/10

The youngster showed a lot of commitment by fighting immensely for the ball and created a chance early on for Depay which he dragged narrowly wide.

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Sergio Busquets - 7/10

He was petulantly stamped on by Parejo early on which should have got the Villarreal player sent off. But Busquets was soon on his feet and delivered a good performance.

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Frenkie de Jong - 8/10

The Dutchman cut open Villarreal with some excellent throughballs, although Depay wasted one of them despite going one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He found redemption with a strike early into the restart.

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Abde Ezzalzouli - 7/10

He saw a header unbelievably saved by Rulli in the fifth minute but was a menace down the right. He escaped his marker with pace and skill whilst also starting the move that led to De Jong's opener.

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Memphis Depay - 7.5/10

The Dutch marksman missed two glorious chances in the opening stanza. However, he gained a measure of redemption with an 88th minute strike, demonstrating tremendous composure while making that finish.

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Gavi - 7/10

Gavi showed plenty of promise but his end-product was missing.

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Substitutes

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Oscar Mingueza - 5/10

Mingueza has the uphill task of winning his new manager's trust. In this game though, he was totally anonymous.

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Ousmane Dembele - 5/10

The Frenchman didn't make any noticeable impact.

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Philippe Coutinho - 8/10

He sewed the match up with a stoppage-time penalty.