Much-changed Barca fail to shock defeat at Celta Vigo

BBC
BBC
Iago Aspas' goal was his fifth in his last four home league appearances against Barcelona

Newly-crowned La Liga champions Barcelona fell to a shock defeat by Celta Vigo after resting Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique.

Maxi Gomez opened the scoring for Celta after they had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR).

VAR later awarded Celta a penalty and Iago Aspas converted from the spot.

Barca will play Liverpool on Tuesday in their Champions League semi-final second leg and hold a 3-0 advantage ahead of their trip to Anfield.

Ernesto Valverde’s side – who were also without Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba – lost Ousmane Dembele to injury early on.

It took until the 28th minute for the game to witness its first shot on target, with Barca keeper Jasper Cillessen smothering Okay Yokuslu’s effort from the edge of the box.

Celta thought they had scored five minutes into the second half when Nestor Araujo headed in from close range after Cillessen had parried Gustavo Cabral’s header into his path, but VAR ruled Araujo offside.

They broke the deadlock in the 67th minute when Gomez cleverly finished Ryad Boudebouz’s cross.

With two minutes remaining, Moussa Wague handled the ball in the box. VAR awarded the penalty, which Aspas fired past Cillessen for his seventh league goal of the season.

The result saw Celta go five points clear of the relegation zone.

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