The game was not really changed by Barcelona going 1-0 up. Villa came surging back, winning a succession of corners, and came close, clipping the post from a Barcelona head in the crush at a corner. Raphinha’s first of the night, a deflected shot after 52 minutes, made it 2-0 after a sustained spell of Barcelona possession and pressure. Villa had looked a little hypnotised by that passage of play.
Pedri was the real star, producing 69 minutes of elite midfield guile. He had spent 90 seconds lurking behind João Cancelo, sitting in space and watching the play, then accelerating onto the ball. Villa barely got close enough to shake his hand before he was gone.
For the Villa fans crammed into their pen at the top of the stand it was a chance to register a note of progress for this high-wire, ever-evolving team just by taking part. Villa are still well-placed in the first phase of the competition.
Villa sat deep and snapped into their challenges. They continued to chase shadows, and also press, mark and nibble at the ankles of shadows whenever they got the chance. They never looked like getting their teeth into the tender spots behind Barcelona’s teasingly high line.
This Barcelona team will always give an opponent a chance, mixing high-spec possession football with large open spaces. At one point there was fear for Emery’s team on the open right side.
Villa’s night ended as a reality check rather than a shock. Barcelona’s class, and Raphinha’s finishing, had been underlined.
He will crave another chance to get closer to this calibre of opponent before the campaign is out.
Emery made a triple substitution on the hour mark, but before long it was 3-0.
“There are a lot of things to learn today,” Emery said afterwards. “Today, we saw there is still more to do to get to this level.”.