Staff Reporter.
Barcelona lost an eight-goal thriller as Villarreal struck twice deep into stoppage time to leave Xavi’s side 10 points off the top of La Liga.
The hosts had fought back with three goals in 11 minutes to lead after trailing 2-0 until the hour mark.
But Villarreal equalised with six minutes remaining and Alexander Sorloth put the visitors back in front in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
Jose Luis Morales then added a fifth after 102 minutes at the Nou Camp.
Defeat leaves defending champions Barcelona third in the La Liga title race, 10 points behind leaders Real Madrid and eight points off Girona in second.
It comes after they were knocked out of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in a 4-2 defeat by Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
It is Barcelona’s third loss in five matches, with their other defeat in that run coming against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, which they lost 4-1.
After Gerard Moreno’s first-half opener and Ilias Akhomach’s 54th-minute goal, Barcelona produced a stunning comeback through Ilkay Gundogan, Pedri and an Eric Bailly own-goal.
But, following Goncarlo Guedes’ 84th-minute equaliser for Villarreal, the hosts were left exposed in their pursuit of a late winner and ultimately punished by Sorloth’s and Luis Morales’ late goals.
“In the end I am going to be sanctioned, I don’t care, you analyse it yourselves, I don’t want to generate more controversy,” Xavi told DAZN.
“No excuses but that [Comesana penalty incident] decides the match. The fourth official told me it was a clear penalty. Munuera went to the monitor and said no. I don’t want to talk any more, there are the images.
“The normal thing was that we would have won 4-2 but when you leave the rival alive that is what happens … We have it in our hands and it’s slipping away from us.”
Real Madrid came from behind to beat Las Palmas 2-1 on Saturday and moved back above Girona, who play struggling Celta Vigo on Sunday (13:00 GMT).