Y“ellow Submarine” is track number 13 in the 2025-26 playlist and sounds great on Camp Nou on Spotify. Flick’s side have a perfect record at home and the game against Villarreal was no exception. Azulgranas have overcome one of the toughest obstacles remaining in La Liga this season and reaffirmed their leadership. It must be remembered that the Yellows had won their previous two visits to Bala, but with Lamine at this level there is little they can do to damage Azulgranas. He created his first piece.
It should be noted that, as a spectator, it is fun to watch a match at the Camp Nou where the opponents clearly do not let up. This leads to an open back-and-forth matchup where the football decides the outcome. There were no clear chances in the first 20 minutes, but no one could say the game was disappointing. Bala did not miss De Jong and Pedri on the bench, and Villarreal’s quick first-touch play gave them an advantage that would have been difficult to create against Bala.
The match was a back-and-forth affair, with Lamine showing his enthusiasm and providing Gueye with the pause he needed to find the perfect pass for the Yellow team’s attack. These two were the main players in the 1-0 match. The African Cup of Nations winner with Senegal got overconfident and lost the ball as he searched for his team-mate, but Fermun quickly counter-attacked and fed Lamine with a perfect finish past Luis Junior.
Mistakes were costly, but Villarreal paid the price. Apart from the goal, Lamine was the standout player in the match and 10 minutes later he scored another goal that few players could achieve, proving his great performance. His second goal came after he left Cardona and Moreiro in the box and fired a left-footed shot into the top corner of Luis Junior’s goal. At the end of the season and with the World Cup in mind, this would be great news. Considering what we’ve seen in the last few hours, we don’t know if the World Cup will take place.
Villarreal seemed to have trouble starting the second half, with Luis Junior saving Dani Olmo’s close-range shot to keep the score at 3-0 after just three minutes. But in soccer, nothing is obvious. A minute later, Marcelino’s side reduced the deficit from a corner kick taken in by Mourio, with Gueye beating Joao Garca from close range. The Senegalese players took revenge for their mistake at 1-0. This goal turned the game around. The silence in the stands was felt by Rose, and she felt the pressure.
Pau Navarro took the ball from Lamine, who had fallen in contact with a defender, and Villarreal began a counterattack, ending with Ayoze, who fired a shot into the empty goal, but the ball went wide. Tensions escalated with Barra insisting that Villarreal should have kicked the ball away before Ayoze’s shot, but the confusion was resolved with yellow cards for both coaches and a frustrated Rafinha who couldn’t get anything going.
first hat trick
The Brazilian’s fortunes changed a few minutes later when he made a sensational pass to Ferran, but Ferran was unable to beat Luis Junior. Barra was on a roll, but Villarreal were still going strong until the combination of Pedri and Lamine decided the match. A great pass from the Canary Islander and an equally impressive finish from Lamine earned him his first hat-trick as a professional. This goal wasn’t the end of the game, as Lewandowski sealed the victory in stoppage time. Coach Flick rested his players ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League match.
