Barcelona will finish the weekend in third place in the La Liga table and just two points off second spot thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Celta Vigo at the Balaídos Stadium on Saturday evening. Barça were far from their best all night and needed to wait until the 97th minute to take all three points, but a double from Robert Lewandowski and yet another decisive performance from Lamine Yamal gave the Blaugrana all three points at one of the toughest grounds in the country.
FIRST HALF
The first 45 minutes followed a very clear pattern: Celta sat back and parked the bus, and Barça had all of the ball and tried to patiently move it to create chances. But while the Blaugrana did a solid job passing their way from the back until midfield, they struggled a lot to find openings in the final third and wasted quite a few good attacks with bad touches and misplaced passes by the forward players.
Celta threatened a few times on the counter, mostly by exploring the space left in behind João Cancelo on the left side of Barça’s defense, but Marc-André ter Stegen was never required to make a real save and Ronald Araujo used his speed and power to put out a few fires.
The game was quite physical with a few hard fouls on both sides, and it seemed as though we were destined for a goalless score at the break until a moment of magic in the 45th minute: Lamine Yamal found Robert Lewandowski at the edge of the box, and the Pole worked the ball to his right foot before unleashing a sensational strike into the far corner to give Barça a crucial lead with a special goal.
The halftime whistle came shorty after, and the visitors had earned the edge after a hard-fought opening period. But Celta were very much still in the game, and the second half promised to be more open as the home team looked for a response.
SECOND HALF
Celta needed just 90 seconds to find a way back in the game: the hosts easily moved the ball quicky from back to front through the Barça defense, and a nice assist by Óscar Mingueza ended with a shot by Iago Aspas that deflected off Jules Kounde and went over Ter Stegen for the equalizer.
The early goal allowed Celta to stay committed to their defensive approach without needing to take risks, and the home team continued to stay in a very low block trying to frustrate the Barça attack. Xavi Hernández sent on Ilkay Gündogan and Raphinha hoping for a spark off the bench at the hour mark, and the Blaugrana continued to have most of the possession as they looked for a winner.
As time went on and Barça couldn’t even come close to a real chance, Celta looked more and more comfortable with a point and employed some serious time-wasting tactics to slow down the pace of the game in the dying minutes. It looked as though the home team was going to earn a valuable point without conceding a late chance, but a relatively harmless cross from Lewandowski wasn’t properly cleared by the Celta defense and Fran Beltrán kicked Yamal inside the box, and the referee pointed to the spot in the 94th minute.
Lewandowski stepped up to the spot and fired a weak shot that was easily saved by Vicente Guaita, but the Celta keeper was off his line and the penalty had to be retaken after a quick VAR review; Lewandowski stepped up again and couldn’t miss this time, finding the bottom corner and giving Barça the lead.
Celta had a few more minutes to find a miracle equalizer, but couldn’t fashion a chance and had to settle for a defeat when the final whistle came. This was tense and had the usual wild finish that usually happens when these two teams meet at Balaídos, but the game wasn’t good at all and Barça don’t look anywhere near as ready for the Champions League as they should.
But the three points are welcome and they’re pretty rare at Balaídos, and Lewandowski and Yamal were decisive again. If these two show up in Naples again, Barça will have a chance. They just need the rest of the team to show up as well.
Celta: Guaita; Mingueza (Vázquez 85’), Starfelt, Domínguez (Núñez 46’), Ristic (Sánchez 58’); Allende (Swedberg 77’), Beltrán, Tapia, De La Torre; Aspas, Larsen (Douvikas 85’)
Goal: Aspas (47’)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo (Iñigo 46’), Cubarsí, Cancelo; Pedri (Fermín 75’), Christensen (Gündogan 58’), De Jong; Yamal (Romeu 90+10’), Lewandowski, Roque (Raphinha 58’)
Goals: Lewandowski (45’, pen 90+7’)
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
