Villarreal edge Barcelona to seal Champions League return

Villarreal secured a return to the UEFA Champions League with a thrilling 3-2 victory over newly-crowned La Liga champions Barcelona at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

Ayoze Pérez opened the scoring for the visitors, finishing calmly after a clever assist from Nicolas Pépé. Barcelona responded through teenager Lamine Yamal, who danced past two defenders and curled in a sublime equaliser.

Yamal nearly added another before Fermín López’s powerful drive put Barça 2-1 ahead. But Santi Comesaña lobbed Marc-André ter Stegen to level, and Tajon Buchanan fired home an 80th-minute winner to seal Villarreal’s place in Europe’s top competition.

Despite the result, chants of “champions” echoed around the stadium as Barça lifted the league trophy in their final home match of the season. Head coach Hansi Flick praised his side’s efforts throughout the campaign: “We saw a lot of potential in the team… they adapted to the idea of how we want to play and they showed they can play football. When you have confidence, everything is possible.”

It marked Barça’s first home defeat in 2025 and their first league loss of the year.

Elsewhere, Kylian Mbappé struck his 29th league goal as Real Madrid defeated nine-man Sevilla 2-0. Loïc Badé and Isaac Romero were both sent off before Mbappé and Jude Bellingham sealed the win in Carlo Ancelotti’s penultimate match in charge.

Atletico Madrid hammered Real Betis 4-1, with Julián Álvarez scoring twice, while Dani Raba’s early goal gave Leganés a 1-0 win over Las Palmas, and hope of survival heading into the final weekend. Meanwhile, Espanyol’s 2-0 defeat to Osasuna leaves them in relegation danger.

(Source: AFP)