May 11, (THEWILL) – Barcelona defeated Celta Vigo 3-1 on Tuesday evening thanks to a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a goal from Memphis Depay, and a fantastic display from Ousmane Dembele.
Yet, there was a concern at the back of the minds of the squad, coach and fans over the condition of Ronald Araujo, while celebrating the victory. The player needed to be quickly taken to the hospital after being substituted.
Barcelona were not very brilliant in the first half and were on the verge of going down after some disastrous play from the same Araujo. When attempting a back ball to Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the centre-back lost his footing, allowing Iago Aspas to sneak in and make an attempt at getting an opener.
However, just as Aspas was about to score, Araujo made up for his prior error by flicking the ball away from the Spaniard.
On the half-hour mark, Barca finally woke up and seized the lead with their first serious attack of the game. Dembele’s assist came after some beautiful play on the right flank, where he beat two guys on the touchline before squaring the ball to Memphis.
With his next chance on goal, the Dutch international made no mistake, side-footing past Matias Dituro and into the net.
Celta Vigo had a chance to equalise five minutes later, but Ter Stegen wonderfully deflected Thiago Galhardo’s looping shot from the edge of the penalty area round the post.
That save was crucial for Barcelona, who moved up the other end and doubled their lead in the 40th minute. Aubameyang scored his first goal of the game after latching onto a loose ball inside the penalty area.
Aubameyang made it 3-0 early in the second half. The third goal of the game, like the first, came after some exquisite play on the right side from Dembele, who passed the ball into the path of Auba. It was the Gabonese captain’s 11th La Liga goal since joining Barcelona.
It was not 3-0 for long, though, as Celta stormed right up the other end two minutes later to cut the goal deficit despite being in numerical disadvantage.
Galhardo was able to play the ball into Aspas on the edge of the six-yard box after some sloppy play by Ter Stegen and Araujo. Aspas made no mistake by flicking the ball under the Barcelona goalkeeper.
Celta Vigo continued to control the game after the goal, keeping possession of the ball and pinning La Blaugrana back in their own half. This continued until they were caught on the break and Jeison Murillo was sent off for hauling down Memphis when he was clear through on goal.
Around the 70th minute mark, Gavi and Araujo collided heads when both jumped to win the ball in the air, causing a lengthy halt in play. Gavi recovered quickly, but Araujo was forced to leave and was taken away in an ambulance.
When play resumed, substitute Riqui Puig scored for Barcelona after another excellent play from Dembele, but he was adjudged to have been offside in the build-up and his goal was struck out
Due to the lengthy halt following Araujo’s injury, the game was extended by 11 minutes towards the finish. But, there were no highlights of note and Barca finished with maximum points comfortably keeping their victory intact to the end.
With a win over Getafe on Sunday, Barca will lock in finishing La Liga in second position, while Celta will try to go one better than Elche.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
