Jeremy Mathieu was Barcelona’s hero again with the only goal in a hard-fought victory at Celta Vigo, with the Galicians deserving a point after a wholehearted display.
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Having scored the opener in the Clasico victory over Real Madrid a fortnight ago, Mathieu again popped up to settle a tightly contested game which saw Celta more than hold their own.
As a sign of things to follow, Celta created the game’s first chance at Balaidos when Nolito did well to find Joaquin Larrivey, whose low angled strike was deftly pushed aside by Claudio Bravo.
Mathieu is the first defender to score for Barcelona in two consecutive Liga games this season #fcblive [via @barcastat]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) April 5, 2015
Barca’s first goal threat came shortly afterwards, with Lionel Messi inevitably the catalyst as he darted to the edge of the box but sent his shot too close to Celta keeper Sergio Alvarez, and when the rebound dropped to Neymar he could only drill it wide of the right post.
The visitors enjoyed their best spell of the opening period either side of the 20 minute mark, with Luis Suarez appealing in vain for a penalty after a slight tug on the arm from centre back Gustavo Cabral and then firing a snapshot straight at Alvarez.
Celta then had their own penalty appeal waved away, rightly, as Bravo came out of his goal to win a 50-50 challenge with Nolito, but the hosts proceeded to dominate the remainder of the first half.
A goal was disallowed for a questionable offside against Fabian Orellano in the build-up, before Larrivey squandered the best chance of the opening period as he reacted too slowly to a right-wing cross and sliced his shot well wide.
Barca improved in the second half and had a good chance when Suarez crossed for Messi, only for the Argentine to fire wide. But Celta were still very much in the game and the ever-threatening Nolito missed the target after another dangerous burst.
Just as a draw started to look likely, the visiting team’s central defenders made the crucial interventions, firstly with Gerard Pique making a magnificent tackle to deny Celta substitute Charles a near-certain goal.
Seconds later, Suarez won a freekick on the left and Xavi arrowed his delivery to the far post, where Mathieu arrived with a powerful header which scraped the underside of the bar on the way in.
Celta played the final minutes with 10 men after Orellano was red-carded for throwing a lump of turf at Sergio Busquets as the Barca midfielder wasted time, while Messi should have made it 2-0 in injury time but lofted a glorious chance too high.
