FC Barcelona draws against Celta after a crazy ending in Balaídos (2-2)

Barça succumbed to the madness of Balaídos and ended up drawing against Celta after starting with a two-goal advantage. The day of Gavi 382 días' return to the starting line-up was spoiled by a frenetic finale in which Alfon and Hugo Álvarez equalised after goals from Raphinha and Lewandowski.

The home team wanted to take advantage of all the conditions to intimidate a FC Barcelona that arrived after the defeat before the break against Real Sociedad. To do so, they invited Abraham Cunqueiro to play the Kamyx, a Celtic war trumpet, before the match.

A solid first part

Perhaps it was the atmosphere at Balaídos, heated up with the help of the Galician musician, or the gusts of wind of up to 61 km/h; but Barça did not start well. Both teams sought possession of the ball, but the Catalans began to be very fragile in defence. The first chance came in the 4th minute, with a cross from the right flank by Óscar Mingueza, finished and sent wide by Iago Aspas. For their part, Hansi Flick's pupils tried to grease the machinery with combinations between the lines.

The turning point came in the first quarter of an hour. Koundé sent a long pass towards Raphinha, Mingueza was bad at timing when it came to cutting the ball and the carioca received, faced, dribbled the former Barça youth player and beat Guaita with a low shot. In this way, he managed to equal his best number of goals and assists (23), achieved last season, in 18 games, half of the previous season.

Celta gave up playing between the lines and opted to attack the spaces. Despite the fact that the Blaugrana controlled the game, the game became a tug-of-war between both teams. Lewandowski was close to doubling the advantage with a delicious chip that ended up in the back of the net, but it was disallowed because the Pole was in an illegal position.

The first half ended with controversy in the clouds, after a hard foul by Gerard Martín, who was already cautioned, on Iago Aspas. Soto Grado did not show him the second yellow card, which infuriated the Celta striker and the local public.

A crazy ending

The Celta fans greeted Barça with a harsh whistle at the start of the second half, the result of their discontent after the last play of the first half. As for football, the Catalans faced the restart with a lot of character. However, they got a scare with a long-range shot from Aspas, which caught Iñaki Peña off guard and went just wide.

Just after the hour mark, Raphinha made a pass to Lewandowski, who dribbled past Javi Rodríguez with a control, was lucky to get the rebound after a challenge from Starfelt and beat Guaita with a low shot. The Pole has now scored 15 goals in the league, 20 this season. The veteran striker is like red wine, which gets smarter with age, as Estopa sang.

From the 80th minute onwards, madness reigned in the match. Raphinha hit the post in the 76th minute, which could have made it 0-3. Shortly afterwards, Casadó was sent off for a second yellow card. In addition, Jules Koundé fell asleep with the ball in the culé area and Alfon stole the ball and beat Iñaki Peña. Immediately afterwards, Hugo Álvarez tied the game with an individual play. The culé castle collapsed and the return to the path of victory vanished.

Match Fact Sheet

• Celta, 2: Guaita; Javi Rodríguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Mingueza, Fran Beltrán (Hugo Sotelo, min. 75), Ilaix Moriba, Hugo Álvarez; Aspas (Pablo Durán, min. 89), Douvikas (Borja Iglesias, min. 75) and Bamba.
• FC Barcelona, 2:
• Iñaki Peña; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez, Gerard Martín (Héctor Fort, min. 46); Casadó, Gavi (De Jong, min. 75); Raphinha, Pedri (Fermín, min. 75), Olmo (Pablo Torre, min. 89); and Lewandowski (Pau Víctor, min. 89),
• Goles: 
•  0-1 Raphinha (min. 15). 0-2 Lewandowski (min. 61). 1-2 Alfon (min. 84). 2-2 Hugo Álvarez (min. 86).
• Árbitro: 
• Soto Grado (Riojan Committee). He sent off Barça's Marc Casadó with a second yellow card (min. 82). He gave yellow cards to the sky-blues Iago Aspas, Javi Rodríguez and Hugo Sotelo and to the culés Gerard Martín and Fermín.

FC Barcelona remain top of the table in La Liga, with 34 points from 14 games. They are followed by Atlético de Madrid, with 5 less. The next game for the Blaugrana team will be on Tuesday, at home, when they will face Brest in the Champions League.