Barcelona beat Villarreal 2-0 in La Liga

Barcelona -- although controlling the match from the start -- had to wait to get a one-man advantage over Villarreal to score in a La Liga outing that saw the expulsion of the host squad's Daniel Rabaseda with a straight red card.

The first half transpired without any score, although Barca had a scoring chance through a header by Pique and the host team's Soriano tried for a shot-on-goal that had to be intercepted by Ter Stegen on a beautiful defensive play on Sunday, reports Efe.

At the 60-minute mark, Raba was booted, however, and 10 minutes later it was Luis Suarez who got Barca on the board, with Messi following up with the second tally in the 82nd minute.

Barcelona needed a win on a day in this 15th week of Spanish First Division football action when Valencia, Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid all won their matches. And fortunately the Catalonia squad managed to dominate the match from the outset, although Villarreal defended well, at least up to the point where they went down by a man.

The match was played at La Ceramica Stadium before some 21,000 spectators.

--IANS

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