Barcelona travelled to Galicia this afternoon to take on Celta Vigo in La Liga. Buoyant following the appointment of Xavi as coach, they went into the game in search of a win but were shocked. Having gone 3-0 up by half-time, they ended up drawing 3-3.
Barcelona got off to a quick start, taking the lead inside five minutes. Unsurprisingly, it was Ansu Fati who drew first blood. The talented teenager came in off the left flank, beat his man and unleashed an accurate effort into the top corner of the net.
The visitors doubled their lead in the 18th minute. This time Nico played a quick ball just outside the box – Sergio Busquets controlled it before coolly placing his shot into the bottom corner of the net to score his first goal in two years.
Full Time #CeltaBarça pic.twitter.com/bZZ8LAwRuu
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 6, 2021
Memphis Depay scored Barcelona’s third in the 34th minute. The Dutchman scored a well-placed header after some sterling buildup play involving Nico and Jordi Alba – a cohesive, cogent move.
Despite being utterly dominated in the first half, Celta came out fighting at the beginning of the second. They pulled a goal back seven minutes after the restart, Iago Aspas seizing upon a loose ball to score after poor goalkeeping by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Celta made it 2-3 in the 74th minute. This time Nolito was on hand to steer an accurate header past Ter Stegen after being teed up perfectly in the penalty area. Then, quite remarkably, Aspas scored his second and Celta’s third in the 96th minute. He curled a perfectly-struck effort past the outstretched Ter Stegen to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat.
“When you have to make three changes due to injury, you disrupt the entire tactical scheme,” Sergi Barjuan said post-match in comments carried by Marca. Fati, Eric Garcia and Nico all picked up injuries during the game.
FINAAAAAAL 🏁 ¡Looocura hasta el pitido final! ¡Vamoooooooooooooossss!
Orgullo de equipo, orgullo de afición.#CeltaBarça #RCCelta pic.twitter.com/euzxqsGJWE
— RC Celta (@RCCelta) November 6, 2021
“It’s no use but it’s true that it influences the final performance. In the second half we weren’t able to go forward and the players didn’t know where to position themselves under pressure.
“It’s a pity that we can’t celebrate our first victory [in La Liga under Barjuan]. That would have been a great success for me.
“We have to retain the first-half [performance] in which we were brave up front and played a high defensive line that didn’t allow the rival to find any space. And then study what happened in the second half to learn from it and find solutions.”
