This is Sportstar's match blog of the 2020-21 La Liga encounter featuring Barcelona and Celta Vigo on Sunday.
That's it for today. Thanks for tuning in!
MATCH REPORT |
Ronald Koeman's FC Barcelona (76 points) is officially out of the 2020-21 La Liga title race now. The Madrid clubs -- Atletico (83) and Real (81) -- will fight it out for the title next Sunday.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
AND IT'S FULL-TIME! FINAL SCORE: BARCELONA 1 - 2 CELTA VIGO!!!
90' GOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!! SANTI MINA SCORES AGAIN!!!!! CELTA VIGO 2 - 1 BARCELONA!!!!! Santi Mina was the first to get to a rebound for Celta and he wrong-footed Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to find the back of the net.
86' SUBSTITUTION FOR BARCA! This is probably the last throw of the dice from Barca manager Ronald Koeman. He decides to bring on Miralem Pjanic to replace Ilaix Moriba in the middle.
82' CLEMENT LENGLET IS SENT OFF! Barcelona is down to 10 men after Lenglet receives a second yellow card, and a red from the referee. Pathetic challenge from the Barca centre-back.
78' CHANGE FOR CELTA VIGO! Captain Iago Aspas is going out. Miguel Perez will take his place on the field now. On the other hand, it's now or never for Barcelona (77 points) here. Atletico Madrid (80 points) is trailing 0-1 against Osasuna, while Real Madrid (81 points) is leading 1-0 against Athletic Bilbao.
75' YELLOW CARD! Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet is booked by the referee for a poor challenge on Celta Vigo's Brais Mendez. Free-kick for the visitor.
72' SEVERAL SUBSTITUTIONS FOR BOTH TEAMS! Barcelona's Dembele and Griezmann make way for Martin Braithwaite and Trincao on the field. Meanwhile, Augusto Solari replaces Nolito for Celta Vigo.
69' ANOTHER CHANCE FOR BARCA! Ousmane Dembele takes the ball forward with pace on the right flank. He had both Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann in the middle. But his cross goes straight to Ivan Villar.
66' SECOND CHANGE FOR BARCA! Head coach Koeman decides to bring on Sergino Dest to replace Gerard Pique in the middle. There will be a change in formation for Barcelona now.
63' GOOD CHANCE! Ronald Araujo gets to the ball coming off a cross supplied by his teammate Antoine Griezmann. But his header goes way over the crossbar. Poor stuff from Barcelona again.
60' OFFSIDE! Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas was a little too eager to get to a pass from his teammate Santi Mina. The linesman raises his flag and Barca wins a free-kick.
57' BOOKING! The substitute Ricard Puig receives a yellow card now. First Barca player to be booked. He fouled Celta Vigo's Francisco Beltran in midfield.
54' YELLOW CARD! Celta Vigo's Carlos Dominguez gets the first booking of the match after bringing down Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele with a silly tackle during a Barca counter-attack.
51' SUBSTITUTION! In case you missed it, Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman has brought on Ricard Puig to replace Pedri on the field. This was a half-time substitution.
48' FREE-KICK FOR BARCA! Lionel Messi takes it as usual. Messi sends in a decent cross into the box and Celta Vigo goalkeeper Ivan Villar comes off his line to punch the ball away.
THE SECOND HALF IS UNDERWAY!
Forty-five minutes to go. Stay tuned!
AND IT'S HALF-TIME! BARCELONA 1 - 1 CELTA VIGO!!!
45' Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas commits a foul and the referee immediately blows the half-time whistle after Barcelona takes the free-kick. Eduardo Coudet's side will definitely be the happier of the two teams right now.
41' CHANCE FOR BARCA! Lionel Messi rushes forward with the ball. But several Celta Vigo defenders surround him and eventually dispossess him. Messi calls for a foul but the referee doesn't award it.
37' GOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!! SANTI MINA SCORESSSS!!!!! CELTA VIGO 1 - 1 BARCELONA!!! The traveling side has scored with its first real chance today. Mina receives a decent pass from his captain Iago Aspas and places the ball well to find the back of the net.
33' Barca has the advantage in this completely one-sided game so far. Ronald Koeman's men have dominated the possessional, passing and attacking stats, giving Celta Vigo no chance in the process.
30' CORNER FOR BARCA! Ousmane Dembele will take this one. However, he puts too much power on his cross as it misses all his teammates and goes out for a Celta Vigo throw-in.
27' GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!!!! LIONEL MESSI SCORES!!!!!!! BARCELONA 1 - 0 CELTA VIGO!!!!! Sergio Busquets comes up with a delightful assist. A floated ball from outside the box reached Messi, who headed it into goal.
24' Barcelona could have easily scored three goals here. But the team's wastefulness up front continues this season. Both the Madrid clubs are still level 0-0 in their respective matches today.
21' FREE-KICK FOR CELTA VIGO! Barca defender Clement Lenglet with a mistimed challenge on Celta's Denis Suarez. The referee gives the visitor a set-piece and it's a much needed break for the team.
18' SHOT! Lionel Messi receives a good pass just outside the box. He takes a touch, composes himself and attempts a curler to find the target. But the ball goes wide off the top left corner.
15' ANOTHER BARCA CHANCE! Ousmane Dembele with a wonderful sprint from midfield. He somehow enters the box after evading a couple of tackles but his his shot is straight at Villar who collects the ball.
12' VERY CLOSE! Antoine Griezmann has a glorious opportunity inside the box for Barcelona. But his shot on target from close range is saved by Celta Vigo goalkeeper Ivan Villar.
9' WHAT A CHANCE FOR BARCA! Dembele makes a good run on the right flank and enters the box. He cuts back to evade the tackle of an opposition player and set up Messi, whose final shot is eventually blocked.
6' CORNER FOR BARCELONA! Skipper Lionel Messi will take this one for Barca. He goes for a short pass to Ousmane Dembele, who crosses the ball to Pedri. However, Pedri's left-footed shot goes way over the post.
3' Barcelona dominating possession early on. But the team's problem this season has been its frailty at the back. Barca has conceded lots of goals on the counter. Due to that, even a win today could end its title hopes.
AND THE MATCH BEGINS!
The team lineups are out!
BARCELONA XI: M ter Stegen (G), J Alba, C Lenglet, G Pique, R Araujo, S Busquets, O Dembele, I Moriba, Pedri, A Griezmann, L Messi (C).
COACH: Ronald Koeman.
CELTA VIGO XI: I Villar (G), K Vazquez, J Aidoo, N Araujo, A Caricol, F Beltran, B Mendez, D Suarez, Nolito, I Aspas (C), S Mina.
COACH: Eduardo Coudet.
MATCH PREVIEW:
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said he had been mistreated by the media after the team's poor run of results has all but put it out of contention in the Spanish title race, adding that he wanted to stay in charge next season if the club wants him to.
The Catalans practically surrendered their chances of catching La Liga leader Atletico Madrid after drawing 3-3 at Levante on Tuesday and trail it by four points with two games left.
They have to beat Celta Vigo in their final home game on Sunday, but even if they do, their hopes will be ended if Atletico Madrid beats Osasuna.
"We won the Copa del Rey, we cut the gap with Atletico down by 12 points to fight for the title, but then if you look at the press coverage in the last few days, it seems as if I've done a bad job," Koeman told a news conference on Saturday.
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"It's not fair that one day everything seemed perfect, and two weeks later everything is horrible."
Koeman has another year left on his Barca contract and said he would discuss his future with club president Joan Laporta later this month.
"We have agreed to talk at the end of the season," added the Dutchman.
"It's very important for a coach to work in a club where he has absolute confidence. If that's the case, I can, and I'd like to stay."
Former Barca defender Koeman succeeded Quique Setien as coach last August when Laporta's predecessor Josep Maria Bartomeu was at the helm of the club.
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His side took only 14 points from its opening 10 games but staged an impressive turnaround to haul itself back into the title race.
It won the Copa del Rey in April with an emphatic 4-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, but its season unravelled after it lost 2-1 at home to Granada, blowing its chance to unseat leader Atletico.
Barca has also had a disappointing season in the Champions League, losing 5-2 to Paris St Germain on aggregate in the last-16.
"I'm very happy with what we've done if you consider all the difficulties we've had, although we're still disappointed to not have taken the chances we had to become league leaders," Koeman added.
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