play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upSport|FootballLamine Yamal hits hat-trick as Barcelona beat Villarreal 4-1 in La LigaBarcelona have 64 points while second-placed Real are on 60 points ahead of hosting Getafe on Monday.
Listen to this article | 2 minsinfoLamine Yamal scores Barcelona's first goal [Albert Gea/Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff and ReutersPublished On 28 Feb 202628 Feb 2026Click here to share on social mediashare2Share
googleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoLamine Yamal scored the first hat-trick of his career as Barcelona beat visitors Villarreal 4-1 in La Liga on Saturday to move four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the standings.
Barcelona have 64 points while second-placed Real are on 60 points ahead of their home game against Getafe on Monday. Villarreal remain a distant third on 51.
Yamal put the hosts ahead in the 28th minute after Fermin Lopez robbed Pape Gueye and slipped a pass down the right for the 18-year-old to finish low inside the left post.
He doubled the lead nine minutes later with a dazzling solo run, controlling a long ball on the right wing before cutting inside past Sergi Cardona and Alvaro Moleiro to curl an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Gueye pulled one back from close range in the 49th minute, but Villarreal missed chances to equalise and paid the price as Yamal completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute with another counterattack.
Robert Lewandowski came off the bench to add a fourth in added time, tapping in from Jules Kounde’s low cross from the right.
Lamal said he was delighted personally and for the team with the win.
“I think Villarreal are a really good team, who are third [in the standings]. I am very happy with our win and my goals,” he told reporters after the game.
Asked about his spectacular second goal, he said, “When I have the ball, I decide where we are going, so I waited for the defender to go one way and I went the other.”
