FC Barcelona visits Villarreal CF this Sunday, December 21 (4:15 PM CET) for matchday 17 of LaLiga, with Javier Alberola Rojas officiating. The referee from La Mancha was appointed by the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) along with Valentín Pizarrro Gómez (VAR).
This season, Alberola Rojas has refereed 9 matches, one of them being Barça's victory against Celta at Balaídos (2-4), on matchday 12. That day, the referee from La Mancha cautioned four players from the blaugrana team and only one from the Galician opponent. Towards the end, he sent off Frenkie de Jong for a second yellow card.
Villarreal, for their part, also played a match this season with the 34-year-old referee in charge. The Castellón team, on matchday 11, **defeated Valencia at Mestalla (0-2)** in a match with 6 yellow cards, 4 of them for the visitors. The record for Marcelino's team is positive with Arberola Rojas: 7 wins, 6 draws, and 3 losses in 16 encounters
How Barça has fared in matches officiated by Alberola Rojas
Barça, on the other hand, has played a total of 11 league matchdays officiated by the referee from La Mancha, **with a record of 8 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss** (1-2 against Real Sociedad in 2023) in favor of the Catalans. Prior to Celta-Barça, Alberola Rojas had not officiated a match for the Catalans since May 16, 2024, in the victory against Almería (0-2) with a brace from Fermín López.
Recently, the referee from La Mancha was promoted to UEFA's FIRST Group, the second highest category for European referees, which also includes Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea and Juan Martínez Munuera.
Barça's record in matches officiated by Javier Alberola Rojas:
- Games: 11
- Wins: 8
- Draws: 2
- Losses: 1
Barça seeks to extend its away dominance against Villarreal
Against Villarreal, Hansi Flick's Barça will seek to land another blow in the LaLiga standings, increasing their lead over Marcelino's team to eleven points. **The 'Yellow Submarine', however, has two games in hand over the Blaugrana squad** after their visit to Levante was suspended the previous matchday (due to climatic issues), as well as matchday 19, which the Catalans played early due to the Super Cup.
A Villarreal victory at La Cerámica, while not immediately jeopardizing Barça's lead (regardless of the Real Madrid-Sevilla result), **could leave the Castellón team 5 points off the top** and with a chance to seize the lead by catching up on their schedule.
The recent history between the two, however, clearly favors Barcelona as the visitor at La Cerámica. The Catalans won on their last six visits to Villarreal, including the 'handful' last season (1-5) in a match marred by Ter Stegen's injury. The record in that streak is devastating for the Catalans, with 19 goals for and only 7 against.
Villarreal's last home win against Barça dates back to October 20, 2007 (3-1), still with Frank Rijkaard on the Blaugrana bench. Since then, the 'Yellow Submarine' has only managed draws in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2017, and 2019, although they did manage to win on their last two visits to Catalonia (Montjuïc).