Barcelona has dropped very vital points in their hunt for this season’s La Liga trophy after playing a 2-2 draw against Celta Vigo on Saturday.
The outcome of the game might not be surprising because Balaidos, the home ground of Celta Vigo, has not been a good hunting ground for the Blaugrana. The hosts are unbeaten in their last five home matches against Quique Setien’s men in La Liga, giving them the confidence to face under pressure visitors. Barcelona has suffered three defeats and two draws during the visits under review. Additionally, despite being gin the bottom quarter of the log, Celta had only conceded one goal in their last seven games before the clash.
This has given Real Madrid the advantage to have a two-point lead over their title rivals provided they get a win on the home ground of Barca’s city rivals, Espanyol today. Although Barca will be topping the log pending the outcome of the Madrid game with a point, it is looking like the title is slipping from their grasp, giving the Galacticos the chance to win the trophy that had eluded them since 2012.
Luis Suarez’s double and Lionel Messi’s 250th assist
It was a pulsating encounter that produced new records, but Barcelona would have appreciated maximum points in Balaídos, as they needed all three.
Luis Suarez opened the goals account of the game from Lionel Messi’s cleaver freekick, which was his first since 175 days ago. The last time the Uruguayan score was away to Espanyol on January 4. All thanks to coronavirus break, he was expected to be out of the season.
Barca was, however, pegged back by the host when Fedor Smolov leveled the tie from Okay Yokuslu’s pass.
The poacher again restored Barca’s lead when swiveled and smashed in a great strike from another Messi assist in recording his 13th of the season, but Celta got back to level terms through Iago Aspas’ perfect low free-kick.
Suarez’s goal also put in third on the La Liga goal scorers chart. Having scored three in the Champions League as well, his overall goals for Barca now stands at 193, just behind Kubala, Barça’s third-highest goalscorer ever. Although he finally broke the jinx of not scoring at Balaídos, where he had played thrice, the Urugyuan won’t be happy with the eventual outcome.
The two assist done by Messi, who is still looking for his 700th career goals put in 250-mark all time. The Argentine is yet to score in the last three games with the last coming against Real Mallorca. The Argentine is topping the La Liga goals chart this season with 21 goals and 17 assists in all competitions.
Celta even had the opportunity of securing maximum points deep into injury time through Nolito, but his close-range shot was straight at Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
