Soccer Football - LaLiga - FC Barcelona v Villarreal - Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Barcelona, Spain - May 18, 2025 FC Barcelona's Lamine Yamal in action with Villarreal's Yeremy Pino REUTERS/Albert Gea
(Reuters) -Villarreal fought back to shock Barcelona 3-2 on Sunday, handing the LaLiga champions their first league defeat since late December.
Having already secured the title after Thursday's 2-0 win at city rivals Espanyol gave them an unassailable lead over the competition with two games left to play, Sunday's match at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium was supposed to be a chance to celebrate and present the LaLiga trophy to their fans but Villarreal spoiled the party.
"I think Villarreal played a good game... but what matters is that we are champions," Barca's Fermin Lopez, who scored their second goal to make it 2-1 at the end of the first half, told DAZN before he joined his teammates in the trophy-lifting celebrations.
"I'm happy to have scored a goal, although it didn't help us to grab another win that we really wanted. However, the important thing is that we've won the league and that's it, we deserve it and let's keep the celebration going."
Former Newcastle and Leicester forward Ayoze Perez opened the scoring for the visitors, finding the net from a counter-attack in the fourth minute.
Yet Barca's Lamine Yamal levelled in the38thminute with a curling strike and Lopez gave them the lead with a shot from the edge of the box in first-half stoppage time.
However, Santi Comesana equalised five minutes after the break and Canadian Tajon Buchanan fired the winner from a Gerard Moreno cross in the 80th minute, a result that secured Villarreal a spot in the Champions League next season.
Ahead of the final weekend of the campaign, Champions Barca are top on 85 points, four ahead second-placed Real Madrid, with Atletico in third on 73 points. Athletic Bilbao, on 70 points, and Villarreal, on 67, complete LaLiga's top five, who will represent Spain in next season's Champions League.
(Reporting by Fernando KallasEditing by Toby Davis)
