Madrid, Sep 1 (IANS) FC Barcelona found another young hero as a late goal from B-team striker Sandro Ramirez gave them a narrow 1-0 win away to Villarreal to maintain their 100 percent winning start to the Spanish Primera Liga season.
Barca Sunday travelled to the east coast to face one of the in-form sides in Spain with a need to show continued improvement under new coach, Luis Enrique, reports Xinhua.
The team dominated possession from start to finish, although they also had their share of luck as Villarreal saw two efforts bounce back off the woodwork.
Sandro’s goal came eight minutes from time following a great move from Lionel Messi, who found space on the right of the Villarreal penalty area to send a low ball across the goal for the youngster to prod home from close range.
The Catalans travelled without midfielder Andres Iniesta, who was rested as a precaution after noting problems in his left knee.
Despite having recovered from his ankle injury, Neymar started the game on the subs’ bench as Enrique gave another start to youngster Munir with Pedro Rodriguez on the left of the attack and Rafinha given another chance to impress in midfield.
The game saw Barca continue to apply Enrique’s tactics of pressuring their rivals high up the field and in the first half Barca enjoyed 75 percent of possession and a similar amount of the ball in the second half.
