Celta Vigo vs Barcelona, La Liga: Final Score 2-2, Barça collapse ...

Barcelona returned to action from the international break and have temporarily increased their lead at the top of the La Liga table to seven points thanks to a wild 2-2 draw away to Celta Vigo at Balaídos on Saturday night. Barça were not even close to their best and still found themselves up two goals at the hour mark, but went down to 10 men and gave away the lead late to drop two big points on the road.

FIRST HALF

Celta made a very good start, with Iago Aspas missing a giant chance just three minutes in and the home team putting real pressure on Barça’s buildup, forcing the Blaugrana into bad passes in midfield and quite a few dangerous attacking trips when the Catalans’ offside trap didn’t work.

But the away side weathered the early storm and were able to take the lead in the 15th minute, when a mistake by Óscar Mingueza put Raphinha through and the Brazilian found the back of the net to put Barça in front. The visitors played well after going ahead, with good passing and movement in the final third, but couldn’t create good enough chances to score a second.

Meanwhile Celta remained a danger despite going behind, with long balls from the back beating the Barça offside trap and creating even more dangerous attacks that needed some key interventions by Iñaki Peña and the center-back duo of Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez.

Barça left-back Gerard Martín, who had an early yellow card, almost got himself sent off when he brought down Aspas inside the box, but he and Barça were very lucky that the referee did not point to the spot and denied the hosts a pretty strong penalty shout.

Martín was the story of the rest of the period as the young defender was targeted time and time again, and it was his tackle on Aspas on the very last play of the half that once again went unpunished and sent both the Celta captain and the home crowd into an absolute frenzy, and set the stage for a very tense second half as the halftime whistle came to end an absolutely chaotic opening period.

SECOND HALF

Hansi Flick looked to solve the Gerard Martín problem by taking off the left-back at halftime, replacing him with Héctor Fort and hoping that the young right-footed full-back could play the role well in the final period.

Fort did just that, playing with poise with and without the ball, but the rest of his teammates continued to struggle to keep possession as the game remained wide open with constant turnovers of possession and scary moments for the Barça defense denied either by timely individual interventions or the offside flag.

Then at the hour mark came a much-needed sigh of relief for the visitors: Mingueza gave the ball away to Raphinha in midfield, and the Brazilian found Robert Lewandowski who was able to fight off a challenge from Javi Rodríguez and pass the ball into the net to double the Barça lead at a crucial moment in the game.

Celta were not done yet and kept going forward looking for a way back in the game, and Hugo Álvarez had a monster one-on-one chance that was denied by a brilliant save from Iñaki Peña. The action stayed back and forth with no semblance of control from either side, and chaos continued to reign supreme as we reached the final 20 minutes.

Barça almost clinched the win when Raphinha found himself all alone inside the box, but his right foot shot somehow hit both the inside of the post and the back of the goalkeeper and stayed out. Flick inserted Frenkie de Jong and Fermín López looking to add more control and fresh legs in his midfield, and Barça were fully invested in securing the win and the clean sheet entering the last 10 minutes.

Then all of a sudden the game completely shifted in a span of four minutes: first Barça found themselves down to 10 men as Marc Casadó was shown a second yellow for a tactical foul on Ilaix Moriba, and 90 seconds after that Alfon González was given a gift thanks to an awful mistake by Jules Kounde and brought Celta and the crowd back in.

Two minutes after that, Kounde made another error by keeping Borja Iglesias onside, and that started a move that ended with a great dribble and finish by Álvarez to equalize and set up a wild ending.

Neither team managed to create a late chance to win it at the death, and the final whistle came to give each side a point in what feels like a fair result given what we saw on the night. Celta were excellent, Barça were not great but took their chances, and both teams put on quite the wild show.

But speaking from a Barça perspective, this isn’t a good result at all. This was another poor performance without Lamine Yamal, which is a concern, and Real Madrid now have two games in hand and can cut Barça’s lead at the top of the table to four points with a win on Sunday, which is another concern.

Barça need a strong victory against Brest in the Champions League in midweek more than ever, or the noise will begin to increase as the team has now struggled for a second game in a row.

Celta Vigo: Guaita; Rodríguez, Starfelt, Alonso, Mingueza; Álvarez, Beltrán (Sotelo 75’), Moriba, Bamba (Alfon 62’); Aspas (Durán 90’), Douvikas (Iglesias 75’)

Goals: Alfon (84’), Álvarez (86’)

Barcelona: Peña; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Martín (Fort 46’); Pedri (Fermín 75’), Casadó, Gavi (De Jong 75’); Raphinha, Lewandowski (Víctor 89’), Olmo (Torre 89’)

Goals: Raphinha (15’), Lewandowski (61’)

Red Card: Casadó (82’)