Villarreal and Barcelona played out a thrilling 4-4 draw at the Estadio de la Ceramica in La Liga on Tuesday as both sides came back from two goals down.
Early efforts from Philippe Coutinho and Malcom looked to have set the Liga leaders on their way to a comfortable victory, but goals from Samuel Chukwueze, Toko Ekambi, Vicente Iborra and Carlos Bacca saw the Yellow Submarine storm into a 4-2 lead before Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez broke their hearts right at the end.
Malcom was handed a rare chance to shine by Barca boss Ernesto Valverde as Messi was left on the bench ahead of the top-of-the-table clash against Atletico at Camp Nou on Saturday and the Champions League quarter-final first leg away to Manchester United the following Wednesday.
And the Brazilian impressed from the outset, setting up Coutinho for a simple finish after 12 minutes following a quick break and adding another himself with a fine header past Sergio Asenjo at the back post from a pinpoint Arturo Vidal cross.
Coutinho then hit the post as Barca threatened to run away with it in what was becoming a one-sided first half, but Villarreal had started well and were causing problems for the visitors though the pace of Chukwueze.
The Nigerian had seen an effort saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen earlier in the half and freed by Santi Cazorla, he raced away from Clement Lenglet to fire a shot past the German goalkeeper but against the upright. The rebound came straight back to him though and at the second time of asking, he slotted a low effort into the corner to get Villarreal back into the game.
There were chances for the two teams later in the half, with Jordi Alba clearing from under his posts and Luis Suarez seeing a free-kick saved by Asenjo right before the break.
Barca began the second half by passing the ball around patiently, but they were hit by a sucker punch as Ekambi chased down a Chukwueze pass on the right, cut inside and found a space inside Ter Stegen and the his near post to fire home with a low finish which took the German completely by surprise.
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