BARCELONA (Reuters) – Robert Lewandowski scored a quickfire double before Joao Cancelo sealed a last-gasp 3-2 win for Barcelona over Celta Vigo in a LaLiga clash at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Saturday.
The win provisionally moves Barcelona to the top of the league standings with 16 points from six games, one point ahead of Real Madrid who face local rivals Atletico Madrid on Sunday. Celta are 17th.
“It was a brutal comeback. We played with faith, with courage, although we were a bit sloppy at times,” Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez said.
“The circulation wasn’t the same as in the last few games. It’s a comeback based on the desire to win. When you don’t play well, you have to pull these things out.”
Barcelona, fresh off successive 5-0 wins over Royal Antwerp and Real Betis, started well but it was Celta who had the first real opportunity of the match, with Iago Aspas drawing a sharp save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The visitors continued to press forward and were rewarded with the opener in the 19th minute, when Jorgen Strand Larsen opened his body and curled a right-footed shot beyond Ter Stegen’s reach after being played through by Luca de la Torre.
Buoyed up by the goal, Celta settled into a comfortable pattern as they sat back and allowed Barcelona to keep possession, while intermittently launching swift counter-attacks that carved through the hosts’ shaky defence with ease.
Strand Larsen nearly doubled his tally just before half-time but the Norwegian’s bullet header was thwarted by Ter Stegen.
Xavi brought on Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo at the break, with Barcelona’s formation switching from two central defenders to three at the back, but while the change brought cohesion in attack, their defence was once again found lacking.
Substitute Tasos Douvikas gave Celta a two-goal cushion 10 minutes after coming on when he capped off a sweeping move by coolly slotting the ball in the bottom corner.
Celta took their foot off the gas and they were punished when Lewandowski scored twice in the span of four minutes, chipping keeper Ivan Villar with a deft finish for his first before turning in Cancelo’s low cross to level the scores in the 85th minute.
Cancelo then ghosted between two Celta defenders to get on the end of Gavi’s inch-perfect cross to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and seal a fifth straight league win for Barca.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
