BEVERLY HILLS, October 1, (THEWILL) – Barcelona kept their perfect La Liga start in tact in an impressive 3 – 0 win away to Celta Vigo, this despite being a man down in the second half due to the red card handed to their defender Clement Lenglet. The Catalan giants were the better team throughout the encounter, relentless attacking and coming off dominant on the road.
They began the game with intent, pressing high up the pitch and sending plenty of bodies forward to deal with the very defensive-minded Celta who executed their plan to defend deep and hit the illustrious opponents on the counter. But Barca’s exquisite passing sequences around the box were all the spark the away side needed to produce a beautiful finish from the young prodigious Ansu Fati.
The visitors continued to dominate possession, tantalisingly inviting Celta into pressuring them higher up the pitch so that they could find spaces to exploit behind the host’s defences. But the chances to do that were few and far between as the disciplined defending tactics of the Celta team held. Barca was content to keep control of the game and stop Celta from creating dangerous counters.
Then, the Lenglet red card, which was a second yellow for hitting Celta’s Denis Suarez with his elbow, happened and it looked like the game was going to turn in Celta’s favour with their numerical advantage on their home grounds. It was the perfect stage for the second half with Barca a goal up but a man down.
But Barca was not going to allow that dull their performance and showed this immediately after the restart. The Blaugrana scored early with a great run from their talismanic player, the Argentine Lionel Messi which forced an own goal from Lucas Olaza, Celta’s Uruguayan left back. Barcelona kept up the pressure in their search for a third. In a series of attacks, Messi had the ball in the back of the net but it was disallowed and the Brazilian Philippe Coutinho forced a massive save out of the
Celta goalkeeper Ivan Villar. It was relentless.
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But with the clock running down, the numerical one-man advantage of the hosts became apparent as the visitors were showing signs of fatigue and the home team started to control possession and increase their pressing. They were almost rewarded when their midfielder, Miguel Baeza hit the bar. For the final quarter of the game, Barcelona was forced into a retreat to defend their lead to the end.
Not only did they do this comfortably but they were able to add that seemingly elusive third goal to the tally. It was made possible by another mesmerising run by Messi and a goal by Sergi Roberto. It was enough to win the game and to give their new coach Ronald Koeman a good evening win away from home.
