Barcelona played Celta Vigo on Sunday night at Camp Nou. The game was always going to be a tough one for the Blaugranas with Celta being such a bogey side. And sure enough, things were very difficult for Barcelona as Celta Vigo kept coming at them. Xavi played a back 4 of Alonso, Balde, Pique, and Roberto. This was one of the most inexperienced backlines that Barcelona lined up within a game. Iago Aspas came to Camp Nou having held a great record against Marc Ter Stegen scoring the most against him.
The first half was a great one for the Blaugranas as they controlled the majority of the game, giving Celta no chances at the other end. The inclusion of Sergi Roberto was key as he played as an inverted right back and helped controlled the midfield. But it was Gavi who showed his zeal and enthusiasm at such a young age. The 17-year-old was everywhere on the pitch, winning all of his duels and recovering possession countless times. It was his run in behind the defenders that stretched the Celta defense and resulted in the opening goal.
But things looked far from comfortable in the second half for Barcelona. The defense was all over the pitch and Celta had enough chances to not just equalize but take the lead. Had it not been for Marc Andre Ter Stegen’s heroic performance yet again, Barcelona would have surely have dropped points. But this performance was not at all appreciated by fans and Xavi who felt that the game was theirs to control. The game ended with a fantastic block by Eric Garcia to deny Celta the equalizer. But this performance raised many questions as to why the team were so bad in the 2nd half.
Barcelona had to calm Raphinha down after the penalty incident
Besides being too predictable against Celta, Barcelona had some moments of brilliance against the Basque side. One of them included Raphinha going past a player and tumbling inside the box. But the referee was not interested in awarding Barcelona a penalty. Clearly, there was contact from the Celta player as he did not even touch the ball. But the referee did not budge and the VAR also did not intervene.
Barcelona have been very unfortunate regarding the decisions taken against them regarding penalties. In the UCL also, they were denied 2 clear penalties against both Inter and Bayern Munich. But fate has not sided with them with Xavi’s side the one to get the least amount of penalties. It may happen once or twice but it has happened a whopping 4-5 times already this season. The Raphinha incident was too much to handle as the player was calmed down in the dressing room.
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