Barcelona 1-2 Celta Vigo: Szczesny, De Jong make mistakes

At home, Barca started the game proactively and did not need much time to score the opening goal. In the 12th minute, Torres dribbled straight into the middle, before unleashing a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, sending the ball into the far corner of the goal, leaving the goalkeeper helpless. The former Man City striker reached the 10-goal mark in La Liga, something he had never done in the previous 3 seasons playing for the Catalan team.

The home fans' joy only lasted for 4 minutes. Szczesny rushed out but could not block the cross from the right wing of the away team. Borja Iglesias took advantage of the opportunity to finish into the empty net, bringing the match back to the starting line.

Barcelona face difficulties against Celta Vigo.

In the rest of the first half, Barca maintained an overwhelming possession rate (66%). However, the quality of the home team's attacks was not high. The finishing efforts of Raphinha and Lewandowski were easily blocked by Guaita. Too engrossed in attacking, Barca almost conceded a goal to the visitors after a counter-attack at the end of the first half. Szczesny played focused to block two consecutive shots from Moriba and Losada.

When the second half had only been going on for 7 minutes, the error occurred again in Barca's defense. Frenkie De Jong made a mistake, allowing Iglesias to escape, shoot a dangerous cross-angle shot, forcing Szczesny to pick the ball out of the net for the second time.

Barca just lost to Dortmund, thereby ending a 24-match unbeaten streak in all competitions (20 wins, 4 draws). However, the "Blaugrana" are still showing impressive form and will quickly return to the domestic arena, where they are fiercely competing with Real Madrid in the La Liga championship race.

Barcelona are currently four points clear of rivals Real Madrid at the top of the table, but Los Blancos still have a game in hand. El Clásico at the end of the month, which coincides with the Copa del Rey final, promises to be the defining moment of both teams' seasons.

In the immediate future, Hansi Flick and his team will have a difficult away trip to Balaídos Stadium of Celta Vigo. The Galician team has not been an easy opponent for Barca in recent years. In the last 15 encounters in La Liga, Barcelona have only won 7, drawn 5 and lost 3. Since the 2017/18 season, only Real Madrid has avoided defeat against Barca more than Celta.

For their part, Celta Vigo just suffered a 0-2 defeat to Espanyol last weekend, thereby ending an 8-match unbeaten streak (5 wins, 3 draws). However, this team is still in a fierce race for a ticket to the European Cup next season, as they are competing for 7th place with Mallorca and Real Sociedad.

Celta will need to improve on their poor form at Camp Nou, having lost six of their last seven visits (W1). However, their recent away form offers some hope. They are unbeaten in four away games (W2 D2), and if they beat Barcelona they could win three consecutive away games in La Liga for the first time since January 2018.

Source: https://znews.vn/barcelona-1-2-celta-vigo-szczesny-de-jong-mac-sai-lam-post1547259.html