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Barcelona dropped to fifth in the table after their first defeat in the league this season when they lost 4-1 to a dominant Celta Vigo side at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo on Wednesday night. Goals from Agudo Duran, Iago Aspas and John Guidetti saw the defending champions lose their 100% start to the 2015/16 season.
Neymar scored the only goal on a night to forget for the Catalan club. It was their biggest defeat under Luis Enrique after he took over the club last season. This is also the third time this season where Barcelona have conceded four goals – they lost 4-0 to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup and conceded four when they beat Sevilla 5-4 in the UEFA Super Cup.
Celta Vigo opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Hugo Mallo found Nolito in the box. He had time and space to take a controlled shot that sailed into the top corner, beating Marc-Andre ter Stegen who reacted too late.
They doubled the lead a few minutes later when in the 30th minute Iago Aspas broke on a quick counter with both defenders chasing him down. Aspas reached the edge of the box and chipped Ter Stegen who was caught in no man’s land near the penalty spot. The half ended with Celta Vigo leading 2-0.
Aspas then scored his second of the night, again on the counter-attack. The goal actually came from a Barcelona corner. Celta Vigo cleared the danger and Aspas was soon in the clear with no defender in sight. This time Ter Stegen stood his ground, but he was still beaten as Aspas curled it around the goalkeeper.
Neymar then made it 3-1 in the 80th minute when Lionel Messi fed him with a ball over the defence. The Brazilian forward controlled the pass before firing past goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez Conde.
But any hopes of a comeback were dashed three minutes later when Gerard Pique was found wanting after another cross from Mallo found Guidetti in the centre of the box, who controlled the pass exquisitely before firing in the fourth to get all three points.
Enrique congratulates Celta Vigo
After the game, Barcelona manager Enrique said: “What decided this game is how well Celta played. It was highly effective football from them. It was very good,” according to BBC.
“We tried to create problems, but we suffered a lot in one-on-one situations. When a team has played better than you, then there is nothing much that you can say.
“I'd rather lose to a team that plays like Celta did today, without any tricks, purely winning through their football. I congratulate them and hope they can carry on playing like that.”
