Mascherano was then the Barcelona hero at the other end when he slid in on Adrián as the Villarreal substitute went clean through on goal.
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Atletico noticed the effects of their Champions League win over PSV Eindhovenon Tuesday night, but took the lead through a brilliant Antoine Griezmann free kick.
“It is a positive round of fixtures for us. “(Clasicos) are always special. “At halftime we said “let’s forget what has happened and play like it was 0-0”.
After Villarreal coach Marcelino had been sent to the stands, Neymar made it 2-0 with a chipped penalty, putting Barca’s recent woes from the spot to rest after a seemingly harsh decision to punish goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo for a foul on the forward.
The game changed in the second half when Luis Enrique chose to substitute Pique for Jeremy Mathieu and Villarreal found new life through a goal by Cedric Bakambu and an unfortunate own goal from Mathieu.
Barca, eight points clear at the top with nine matches left, could find their 38-game unbeaten sequence in all competitions seriously challenged by high-flying Villarreal.
“The best teams in the league have lost here, we’ve drawn. So I have to be satisfied”.
Barcelona will possibly have to make do without the services of Andres Iniesta on Sunday due to injury, but Rafinha is ready to make his comeback after a six-month spell on the sidelines due to a knee problem.
Bakambu was particularly inspired.
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.
Barca’s opener came from a Lionel Messi free-kick, which was aimed for Luis Suarez but ended up dropping to Rakitic, who took advantage of a poor clearance by striking home first time.
Even some of the Barcelona players looked embarrassed by the decision but Neymar dinked his penalty over Asenjo’s dive and the Champions-elect had doubled their lead.
Bakambu halved the deficit with a simple finish after Bravo had parried Denis Suarez’s initial effort.
Sevilla had the chance to level from the penalty spot, but Keylor Navas flew to his right to deny Kevin Gameiro midway through the first-half.
Bale headed the ball off the bar before Ronaldo directed in Danilo’s cross in the 64th to take his league-leading tally to 28 goals.
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.
Espanyol took advantage of Athletic Club Bilbao’s exhausted legs to beat the Basque side 2-1 with second half goals from Pape Diop and Felipe Caicedo after Javier Eraso had put the visitors ahead before the break.
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Before Sunday’s matches a moment of silence was held for the victims of a bus accident in northeastern Spain that left 13 dead.
