Depay late goal key to Barcelona ending winless run on road

Barcelona, Nov 28 (AP): Barcelona was facing another stumble on the road when Memphis Depay came to the rescue. The Netherlands striker scored just in time to defuse a Villarreal comeback and secure Barcelona’s 3-1 victory on Saturday, and end his team’s winless record in the Spanish league. Seeing his team struggle to keep possession in the final minutes, goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen broke with Barcelona’s stylebook of working the ball forward with small passes. Instead, he surprised Villarreal with a long goal kick that Depay ran onto and won against two defenders. Depay then coolly dribbled around goalkeeper Ger nimo Rulli before slotting the ball between the legs of Ger nimo Rulli for the 88th-minute decider.
Philippe Coutinho sealed the much-needed win with a penalty that he earned in stoppage time.
“We played against a great team. We dominated the ball less than I had expected, but we were fortunate to get that goal from Memphis,” said Xavi Hern ndez, who coached his first away game since replacing Ronald Koeman.
“These are three golden points, the first win away from home. We suffered and we need to improve. We got lucky.”
Depay, who arrived as a free agent this summer from Lyon as cash-strapped Barcelona tried to rebuild on the cheap, has eight league goals, second only to the 10 by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema. Barcelona stayed in seventh place, but reduced the gap to leader Real Madrid to seven points. Madrid faces a tough test on Sunday when it hosts third-placed Sevilla.

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