Barcelona 3 - 0 Villarreal: 5 talking points

Defeating Villarreal 3-0 comfortably at the Camp Nou today, Barcelona look incredibly strong going into the international break. This victory takes them to the top of the table over second-placed Real Madrid, who lost their game against Sevilla. This has put Barcelona in a strong position going into the Clasico, winning which will give them a mammoth six-point lead over the rival team from Madrid.The game began with some early pressure from Villarreal and it took some time for Barcelona to find their way into the game. The first half was uneventful despite a couple of chances from either side. The second half was a lot different and Barcelona completely dominated the game.A misplaced pass from Bruno Soriano led to Neymar scoring the first goal, which was later followed by a penalty from Luis Suarez. The Brazilian showed some great skill with the third goal to end the night with a comfortable score of 3-0.Here are the major talking points from the game:

#1 Things improving for Barcelona

Things had not been going right for Barcelona in the past few weeks. There have been injuries, losses, suspensions and what not. But finally, things seem to have started going right for the club. While Ivan Rakitic did get injured last week, Andres Iniesta has returned, providing the much needed creativity in the midfiled. Sergi Roberto seems to be in the form of his life and unless there are any more injuries, it should be all fine for the cules. 

Lionel Messi may not be back yet but Neymar and Suarez are doing a more than capable job of spearheading arguably the strongest attacking lineup in the world. Munir is not doing a bad job either, massively helping the other two with the regular scoring. 

The one thing that had been bothering the team the most was the defensive performance, which seems to be improving with each passing game. Jordi Alba played a great game and even Pique gave an improved performance. Mathieu too didn’t fail to step up in Mascherano’s absence.