Barca draws 2-2 at Villarreal, extends Liga lead to 9 points

Barcelona’s Neymar celebrates after scoring during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Barcelona at the Madrigal stadium in Villarreal, Spain, Sunday, March 20, 2016. AP

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona drew 2-2 at Villarreal after squandering a two-goal lead on Sunday as the defending champion increased its lead in the Spanish league to nine points.

Barcelona appeared to be in command after Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring in the 20th minute and Neymar added a penalty four minutes before halftime.

But despite having coach Marcelino Garcia sent off for protesting, Villarreal rallied with a deserved goal from forward Cedric Bakambu in the 57th before Barcelona substitute Jeremy Mathieu knocked in an own goal in the 63rd to split the points.

Barcelona’s 12-round winning run ended as it failed to take advantage of second-place Atletico Madrid’s 2-1 loss at Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

Barcelona extended its Spanish record unbeaten streak to 39 consecutive games in all competitions as it begins the run-in to maintaining the domestic crown with eight rounds left. In the next round Luis Enrique’s side hosts third-place Real Madrid, which trails the pacesetters by a provisional 13 points before hosting Sevilla later.

“I believe the result is positive for us, we are one round closer and one more point ahead,” Luis Enrique said. “We could have won but we also could have lost. So I have to be satisfied.”

Elsewhere, Celta Vigo provisionally climbed past Sevilla into fifth place after its first win at Valencia since 2002-03, while Espanyol fought back 2-1 over Athletic Bilbao.

As promised, the match between Barcelona and Villarreal— two of Spain’s most attractive attacking squads— produced an entertaining contest from start to finish.

Bakambu was particularly inspired. He caused problems for Barcelona center back Gerard Pique — and replacement Mathieu — due to his speed until he was substituted with an apparent leg problem in the second half.

Not a minute into the match, Bakambu’s pass hit teammate Manuel Trigueros, deflected off Barcelona’s Arda Turan, and reached the post before goalkeeper Claudio Bravo smothered it.

Rakitic swayed the match in Barcelona’s favor when he fired a ball through a packed area that had fallen to him when Villarreal defender Victor Ruiz disrupted a free kick by Lionel Messi destined for Luis Suarez.

Garcia was ejected in the 24th and spent the rest of the match from a private box for protesting a handball by Pique that went unpunished. Pique had already been booked for a handball to stop a Villarreal counter-attack.

Bakambu came within inches of reaching a cross that ran across the goalmouth, but Barcelona struck a second time after Messi threaded a pass forward to meet Neymar’s run.

Goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo brought down the Brazil striker, colliding with his left leg just before he could paw the ball away. Neymar then waited until Asenjo leaned one way before floating his spot kick into the other side of the net for his 21st league goal and 27th in all competitions this season.

But far from fading, Villarreal recovered and Bakambu finally got his goal when he slotted in a ball that Bravo had parried from a shot by Denis Suarez.

“This team never gives up,” Asenjo said. “At halftime we said: ‘Let’s forget what has happened and play like it was 0-0.'”

Neymar almost quashed the host’s rally when he drew an excellent save from Asenjo in the 60th, but Villarreal quickly leveled the score when a corner kick hit Mathieu and fell into the net.

Both sides had their chances to claim a winning goal. Rakitic’s header was turned away by Asenjo in the 71st, while Javier Mascherano was again critical to stopping Adrian Lopez from advancing alone toward Bravo’s goal in stoppage time.

Celta striker John Guidetti broke through in the 80th from Fabian Orellana’s exquisite assist with a back-heeled pass before Hugo Mallo muscled his marker to the turf and drilled in a second goal from a tight angle to seal the 2-0 win over Valencia.

Valencia’s fans jeered and waved handkerchiefs after the match in protest of Gary Neville’s team, which fell to 14th place, three days after being eliminated from the Europa League.

Before Sunday’s matches a moment of silence was held for the victims of a bus accident in northeastern Spain that left 13 dead.