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After beating Real Madrid back on March 22 on a 2-1 score, you expect Barcelona to fight for first place and look great on the field. On Sunday night versus Celta Vigo, Barcelona was looking great on the field, creating many opportunities but they struggled once again to finish plays. They had about five to six chances to score but Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar struggled to get the ball past Celta’s goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.
Barcelona came back from a two week break due to the international break with the fear that their key player, Messi, would not be starting in the squad due to a toe injury. All things were clear on Saturday night though, as Barca’s physios gave the “a-ok” but even then Barcelona struggled to find the net. Celta Vigo played some great defense and their goalkeeper was a key on why Barcelona struggled to score.
Barcelona had a couple of opportunities in the first half to get on the scoreboard and make Celta’s night a long one. In the 12th minute, Messi took on four defenders and saw a chance to score but Alvarez blocked it and Neymar got the rebound. With an open net on the right side of the goal, Neymar had a chance to get it in but instead bombed it over the goalpost.
Suarez had an opportunity 10 minutes later as a rebound off a Celta defender came to his chest and as he brought it down he kicked it towards goal but the shot landed in the hands of goalkeeper Alvarez.
On the 40th minute, Celta had scored and took the lead but it was disallowed due to an offsides call. The remainder of the first half was quiet and gave Barcelona some time to think about what had happened thus far and what they could do better in the second half.
On the 53rd minute, Messi had another chance to get the ball in the net as a pass from Suarez came inside the danger zone and into Messi’s legs. He flicked the ball and it went wide, keeping the game scoreless.
It was on the 73rd minute that Barcelona was able to get on the scoreboard and get the only goal of the game. On a free kick given to Barcelona, Messi took it and like the first goal in El Clasico, something similar was repeated. Messi took the free kick and as he crossed it inside the box, Jeremy Mathieu was able to connect with the ball and head it in as it kissed the top post and go in to give Barcelona the 1-0 lead.
On the 89th minute, we saw Fabian Orellana receive a red card due to the fact that he threw grass to Sergio Busquets face and left Celta with 10 men left. The game ended with Barcelona taking another three points and continue in first place with 71 points, four points ahead of Real Madrid. The man of the match goes out to Jeremy Mathieu who was able to get the only goal of the game. Barcelona will face Almeria on Wednesday and Celta Vigo will face Granada the same day.
