Barcelona stretched their lead in La Liga to four points with a dominant 4-1 victory over Villarreal on Saturday, with Lamine Yamal scoring his maiden senior hat-trick.

Barcelona recovered from a slow start to take control before halftime, thanks to Yamal’s precision finishing. The loss puts more pressure on Real Madrid, who play on Monday.

Villarreal started brightly and generated early pressure, but Barcelona took advantage of a turnover in midfield in the 28th minute. Fermin Lopez beat Pape Gueye and fed Yamal, who opened his body to curl a low shot into the bottom corner.Yamal extended the lead nine minutes later with a strong individual performance.

Receiving the ball on the right flank, he beat his man with a stepover before cutting inside and blasting into the top corner to make the score 2-0 at halftime. Following halftime, the visitors replied quickly.

A Nicolas Pepe corner was not properly cleared, and Gueye scored from close range to cut the deficit. Villarreal nearly equalised soon after when Ayoze Perez broke through but shot wide.

Barcelona took control with the arrival of Pedri, who calmed the midfield. In the 69th minute, he found Yamal inside the area, and the teenager cut in to score his third goal of the night.

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