Barca strikers firing blanks as Villarreal visit

Camp Nou braces for a pivotal La Liga showdown on Saturday as league-leading Barcelona welcome a Villarreal side that sits ten points adrift yet still harbours outside title ambitions, with the spotlight fixed squarely on the Catalans’ misfiring centre-forwards. Coach Hansi Flick has shuffled between Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres all season, but neither has provided the cutting edge expected of a club chasing silverware on multiple fronts.

Lewandowski, 37, has seen his output dip alarmingly—five goals in his last 18 matches—while looking increasingly immobile and peripheral in tight games. The veteran Pole admitted this week in Polish magazine Pilka Nozna that the relentless calendar has taken a toll, but argued that rotation “makes life a little better” and insisted he remains fresh enough to contribute. Torres, meanwhile, is on pace for a career-best goal total, yet 12 of his strikes arrived during a purple patch late last year; since then he has managed only three in 15 appearances and is struggling to link play, frequently conceding possession in key areas.

The numbers underscore the problem: Barça top the league for goals scored with 67, but no single player has more than Torres’ dozen. Ten different squad members have hit two or more, highlighting how the scoring burden has been shared by committee rather than shouldered by a reliable No. 9. By contrast, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe—hampered by a persistent knee issue—still leads Spain’s charts with 23 league goals and 13 in the Champions League, a gulf Flick acknowledged in January when he called the Frenchman “the best striker in the world.”

Width has not been the issue. Teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal and Brazil international Raphinha rank among the planet’s most dangerous wide threats, yet the void between them remains glaring. Marcus Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, has operated almost exclusively from the left, registering 10 goals and 13 assists in 34 games, but with Raphinha back to full fitness the England forward may reconsider and lobby for a central role to earn extra minutes.

Barça’s defensive frailties—opponents increasingly punish their high line—compound the pressure on the attack. Last term the team out-scored its problems en route to a domestic treble; this year the margin for error is slimmer. A victory on Saturday would keep Flick’s side one point clear at the summit, with Madrid hosting Getafe on Monday offering a chance for the capital club to leapfrog.

Villarreal, buoyed by a four-match unbeaten run, sense opportunity. A shock win in front of a raucous Camp Nou would trim the gap to seven points and breathe new life into their fading championship hopes. Flick, grateful for a rare two-week breather that allowed his squad to recuperate while rivals navigated Champions League play-off ties, warned against complacency. “It’s important that we have these two weeks, to rest a little bit but also focus on the next match against Villarreal, that will also be a tough match,” he said.

The subplot is clear: unless Lewandowski or Torres rediscovers clinical form, Barça may have to keep relying on goals from every corner of the pitch to stay ahead of a chasing pack led by a relentless Madrid spearheaded by Mbappe. Kick-off is at 15:15 local time, with the outcome potentially shaping the title race heading into the season’s final stretch.