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With a goal from Iago Aspas in the 88th minute, Celta tied (2-2) in extremis against a Barcelona that takes the provisional leadership of the Spanish League, this Saturday on the 32nd matchday, but that may lose ground in the fight for the championship with respect to Real Madrid.
The white team will play on Sunday against Espanyol and if they beat the bottom team of the championship, they will take the lead with two points advantage over Barcelona.
Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez advanced Barcelona twice (20 and 67), both times assisted by Argentine Lionel Messi, but the Galician team achieved the equalizer with goals from Russian Fyodor Smolov (50) and Aspas (88).
The Galician team was even close to achieving victory, but German goalkeeper Marc André Ter Stegen saved a last shot by ‘Nolito’ (90 + 4) on the line.
With this point, in the second consecutive draw away from home (after the one in Seville a week ago), Barcelona placed leader of the classification with a point over Real Madrid, which has one less game.
“The feeling is negative, we lose two more than important points,” Luis Suárez admitted after the game to Movistar’s cameras. “You have the feeling of frustration,” added the Uruguayan.
Celta (16th) thus takes another step towards permanence in the category.
Soccer is milk. We are fighting not to go down, we are tied with Barcelona and we are frustrated, “said Celtic striker Iago Aspas.
– Fati and Puig headlines –
Given the accumulation of games in the resumption of the championship after the break due to the coronavirus, coach Quique Setién gave entrance to the young Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig and Barcelona improved in their game compared to the last games.
“I think we have controlled (the game) a large part of the match, but it is true that in the end we are lacking to have a little more success,” said Setién after the match. “We will have less margin for error” in the future, added the coach.
At 6 minutes, the central Gerard Piqué already warned Celta with a header that spat out the crossbar.
At 20 minutes, Barça went ahead on the scoreboard by surprising the local team with a foul from the front that Messi did not throw directly, as usual, but focused on the far post, where he found his ‘partner’ Luis Suárez, which nodded to the net.
Celta hardly disturbed Barcelona in the first half, except for a volley from Brais Mendez that crashed into the post (25).
After the break Celta took a step forward in search of a draw and found it in a move that was born in an error by Croatian Ivan Rakitic, which gave rise to a Galician counter that ended with the assistance of Turkish Okay Yokuslu to mark Smolov to empty door (50).
When the game seemed more complicated for Barça, the Messi-Suárez connection appeared again to get ahead again on the scoreboard: the Catalans recovered the ball in the opposite area and the Argentine yielded to the Uruguayan so that, at the half-turn and forward , send the ball to the net (67).
Despite the goal, Celta did not give up and Ter Stegen already saved a clear opportunity for 2-2, in a wad of Aspas for Manuel ‘Nolito’ that the German goalkeeper managed to deflect with the tips of his fingers (80)
With a direct foul, outside the barrier, Aspas tied for a Celta (88), who would have taken the final three points had it not been for Ter Stegen.
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