[Soprts] Barcelona's "remontada" against Celta Vigo leads it to the top of the Spanish League

[FRIDAY THE 13]

Barcelona - the defending champion - came from a two-goal deficit to a thrilling victory over Celta Vigo 3-2, today, Saturday, in an exciting match in the sixth round of the Spanish Football League.

Barcelona overturned a two-goal deficit until the 80th minute, to a fantastic victory thanks to Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, who scored two goals within 5 minutes (81st and 85th), and newcomer defender Joao Cancelo (89th).

Celta Vigo advanced with goals from Norwegian Jurgen Strand Larsen (19) and Greek substitute Anastasios Dovikas (76).

 

 

Barcelona raised its score to 16 points at the top from 5 wins to a draw, awaiting the Madrid derby between Real, which has the full score (15 points), and its neighbor, Atletico, tomorrow, Sunday.

The Catalan club also advanced on goal difference over Girona, which defeated Real Mallorca 5-3 earlier.

The Barcelona players gave the “gift of a lifetime” to their coach, Xavi Hernandez (43 years old), the day after he renewed his contract with Barcelona until 2025, with the possibility of renewing for an additional year.

The former midfield maestro made 3 changes to the starting lineup compared to the victory over Antwerp in Belgium (5-0) 4 days ago. He brought in Marcos Alonso, Oriol Romeu, and Ferran Torres instead of Alex Balde, Gavi, and the Brazilian Rafinha.

At Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, Celta Vigo opened the scoring through Strand Larsen in the 19th minute, after a corner kick was cleared by the Catalan defense three times before it reached American Luca de la Torre, who passed it to the Norwegian top scorer to score past German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The newcomer, on loan from Atletico Madrid, the Portuguese striker Joao Felix, missed the opportunity to equalize after a group game, and the former English Chelsea player shot a ball from inside the area over the crossbar (23).

Felix blames himself after the missed opportunity (French press)
Celta Vigo advanced in Barcelona's stronghold, which lacked vision and ideas and nearly conceded several goals, while coach Xavi was forced to remove Dutch midfielder Frankie de Jong and replace him with Gavi due to his injury (36).

Xavi reshuffled his team's cards at the beginning of the second half, bringing in 16-year-old striker Al-Amin Jamal and Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo and Balde instead of Alonso, Romeo and Dane Andreas Christensen.

Araujo shot a ball from 30 meters that was blocked by goalkeeper Ivan Villar (57), and Torres wasted two chances (64 and 66).

At a time when Celta Vigo thought it had returned with the three points with a second goal scored by substitute Dovikas after a pass from its captain Iago Aspas that put him facing the Blaugrana goalkeeper (76), Barcelona began its comeback with two Lewandowski goals within 5 minutes, beginning after a pass from Felix was followed by a tumble that hit the crossbar and bounced into the net. After a joint game between Rafinha, Torres' substitute, and Cancelo, the latter passed it back to the Pole, who followed it with his right foot into the net (81 and 85).

Former English Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo snatched the winning goal and the three points with a lightning touch after a magical pass from Gavi (89).

 

https://www.aljazeera.net/sport/2023/9/23/بالفيديو-برشلونة-يحقق-ريمونتادا-في