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Final score: Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona
Requiring just 8 points to mathematically and officially win the La Liga title, Barcelona travelled to Spain's northwestern coast to take on Celta Vigo for the Matchday 33 clash in La Liga.
Ernesto Valverde began the game with some surprising changes. Among the missing usual suspects were Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta, while Paco Alcacer, Andre Gomes and Ousmane Dembele being given starts instead.
At first, the changes didn't seem to make a difference as Barcelona seemed rather comfortable against their 9th-placed opponents. Dembele opened the scoring with an absolute peach of a shot in the 36th minute before Johnny equalised at the stroke of halftime.
Alcacer then gave the Blaugrana the lead once again, as he drove home a second, only to be cruelly cancelled out by Iago Aspas' 82nd-minute equaliser.
Also read: Celta de Vigo 2-2 Barcelona: Player Ratings
While Barcelona's unbeaten run in La Liga may still be intact, last night's game was one that should've delivered all 3 points. Unfortunately for Ernesto Valverde and his men, not everything went according to plan.
On that note, here is a look at 3 things that went wrong for Barcelona against Celta Vigo:
#3 Team selection
Barcelona's manager, Ernesto Valverde, has had a debut season that most managers wouldn't dare ever dream about. To go unbeaten in the league in your very first season at one of the biggest clubs in the world is no small feat. To do so under unrelenting scrutiny, even more impressive.
Last night against Celta Vigo, though, Valverde seemingly got his team selection wrong, and could have well paid the price for it. In all fairness, the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta deserve plenty of rest. WIth the Copa Del Rey final against Sevilla coming up this weekend, though, you wouldn't want your best players leggy, would you?
Regardless, excluding all three marquee players is always a risky affair and last night's game certainly backs that belief up. Lionel Messi's inclusion in the 60th minute visibly ejected the Catalans with confidence and intent, but there was little even the diminutive magician could do with under half an hour left on the clock.
All one can do now is wonder what could've potentially happened last night, had Valverde played a full-strength side instead of the one that he actually did.
#2 Sergi Roberto's red card
70 minutes into the game, Barcelona led Celta Vigo 2-1 and looked very likely it would finish that way. Unfortunately for them, Sergi Roberto seemingly lost his sense of judgement and couldn't help himself from spoiling the party.
Iago Aspas' darting run granted him all the space in the world behind Barcelona's backline, and expectedly, the Spaniard galloped towards Marc-Andre ter Stegen's goal. Realising that Aspas was clear on goal, Sergi Roberto attempted to chase him down before eventually realising the futility of the idea.
Inches away from the edge of the box, Roberto decided to take matters into his own hands instead of trusting his own goalkeeper and put both hands around Aspas in a bid to slow him down.
Slow down, he did, but with no other Barcelona defender in the vicinity, Roberto was always going to be shown a card, and he was soon given his marching orders.
While the foul may have prevented the hosts from scoring then and there, the shortage of a man clearly made Barcelona vulnerable, eventually forcing them to concede the equaliser.
Had Roberto trusted ter Stegen, though, they may have been able to stop the goal, as well as maintain defensive solidity with all 11 men.
The ultimate question is, would you rather save a goal and get sent off, or concede a goal but keep your entire team on the pitch?
That was the call Roberto had to spontaneously take last night, and while he decided to go with the former, a very different result may have been chalked out had he decided on the latter.
#1 Iago Aspas' 'Hand of God' equaliser
Trailing 2-1 with about 10 odd minutes left on the clock, Celta Vigo's manager Juan Carlos Unzué introduced Emre Mor, who came on for a well-worked Pione Sisto. The change seemed to work immediately, as Celta equalised just a couple of minute later.
Iago Aspas may have scored it, but it was just as much Aspas', as it was the 20-year-old's, who burst down the left flank before unleashing a belter of a cross that proved too much for ter Stegen to handle. The German shot-stopper inadvertently punched the ball towards Aspas, who essentially just had to exist to tap the ball home, and tap he did, albeit with his hand.
As crucial as the goal was to the hosts, replays unquestionably prove that ter Stegen happened to parry the ball onto the Aspas' torso, and subsequently, onto his hand and into the goal.
While it can be argued that it was largely due to inertia and the fact that the Spaniard's body was behind the hand, thus making it a legal goal, Barcelona will consider themselves extremely unfortunate to have lost a couple of points to this particular goal.
