Barcelona fell apart after going down to 10 men, throwing away a two-goal lead despite a superb performance from creator-in-chief Raphinha.
Barca were dealt a bitter blow in La Liga by Celta Vigo’s spirited fightback on Saturday night. The Liga leaders were 2-0 up and seemingly out of side but Marc Casado’s sending off for two yellow cards stunned the Catalans, and they conceded twice in four minutes to throw three points away.
In the first four minutes, Celta Vigo opened Barcelona up, but Iago Aspas could not convert from seven yards out after a superb delivery.
They were made to pay shortly after, as Raphinha sprinted onto Jules Kounde’s speculative long ball and finished brilliantly.
Just before the half-hour mark, Aspas burst through on goal, but went down under the challenge of Gerard Martin but no penalty was awarded; Celta had a degree of success when they were direct, and merely aimed long balls over the Barcelona defence, with Inaki Pena in goal having to be at his very best.
On the stroke of half-time, Gerard Martin should have been sent off; already on a yellow, the full-back fouled Iago Aspas with a bad slide tackle, but the referee opted against showing a second card. Unsurprisingly, he was substituted at the interval.
In the second half, the game descended into a scrappy midfield battle, until Robert Lewandowski doubled the visitors’ lead with a smart finish after being sent through by a fine Raphinha ball.
Raphinha could have had his second in the 77th minute as he again galloped away from Celta’s defence, but his shot hit the post.
Shortly after, Marc Casado was sent off for a second yellow card, and Celta pulled a goal back through Alfonso Gonzalez. He robbed Kounde in Barca’s area and finished coolly.
And with the Balaidos rocking, Celta equalised with a brilliant finish from Hugo Alvarez, earning a well-deserved point, and embarrassing their visitors.
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