Villarreal win 8-goal thriller at Barcelona

By Can Erozden

Villarreal stunned Barcelona 5-3 in a Saturday Spanish La Liga match as title hopes for the defending champions are fading.

Third in the league table, Barcelona have 44 points in 21 matches to fall 10 points behind leaders, Real Madrid.

Villarreal duo Gerard Moreno and Ilias Akhomach put the visitors ahead before Barcelona came back from the 2-0 deficit at Barcelona's Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.

Midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Pedri scored before Villarreal defender Eric Bailly headed the ball into his own net in the 71st minute.

But for the rest of the match, Villarreal scored three goals to shock Barcelona.

Goncalo Guedes fired a right-footed low shot on a counterattack to level the match 3-3 in the 84th minute.

Called the Yellow Submarine, Villarreal cemented the win as Alexander Sorloth and Jose Luis Morales scored in stoppage time.

Real Madrid topped La Liga standings after they beat Las Palmas 2-1 on Saturday. Vinicius Junior and Aurelien Tchouameni scored for the Whites in Las Palmas.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid's Turkish midfielder Arda Guler, who was signed from Fenerbahce in July, made his La Liga debut.

La Liga's surprise package Girona will visit Celta Vigo on Sunday.

Girona have 52 points to be two points behind the leaders.