Lessons learned by Barcelona and an unbeaten run intact. Coach Ernesto Valverde has been criticised for a lack of rotation, especially in light of last week’s collapse in Italy, but the 54-year-old shuffled his pack away to Celta Vigo.
Valverde has picked the same side for most of the season and his team looked tired when it mattered most last week, falling to a 3-0 defeat at Roma which saw the Blaugrana lose on away goals and crash out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
Three days earlier, the Barca boss had picked a strong side at home to Leganes in La Liga when it seemed smarter to give some of those players a rest. And they paid the price with elimination at the Stadio Olimpico.
Of course, the club’s Champions League exit was about much more than just fatigue, but a fitter and fresher Barca may have held on in Italy to make it to the semi-finals. In any case, they did not, and Valverde announced rotations ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Vigo.
This fixture has been a difficult one for the Catalans in recent seasons, with back-to-back defeats at Balaidos in the past two campaigns: 4-1 in 2015-16 and then 4-3 last term. Celta also earned a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou back in December.
With the Copa del Rey final against Sevilla at the Wanda Metropolitano ahead on Saturday, Valverde swept the changes on Tuesday. There was no Lionel Messi in the starting line-up, while Luis Suarez was also left out, along with Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique, among others. It was a gamble.
In beating Valencia 2-1 at Camp Nou on Saturday, Barca had made it 32 rounds unbeaten in La Liga and 39 across this season and the end of last to break a record set by Real Sociedad in 1979-80.
There was the danger their unbeaten run would end at Balaidos against a damgerous Celta side, but Barca – without really playing their best football – twice took the lead in a game they could have won and also lost, but ultimately deserved to draw.
Ousmane Dembele, inexplicably left out of the starting line-up in both games against Roma, opened the scoring for Barca with a super strike late in the first half, and although Celta levelled before the break through Jonny, it looked like the visitors would win when they scored a second after 64 minutes.
Messi had only just been brought on and that always seems to cause havoc, although this goal will be disputed by Paulinho – who took the original shot – and Paco Alcacer, who appeared to apply the final touch.
Sergi Roberto was later sent off for a hauling down last man Iago Aspas and the Spain striker equalised with an effort that came off his arm in a lively finale which kept Barca’s hopes of finishing La Liga unbeaten intact, as well as the players fresh for the cup clash on Saturday.
It may have been too late for the Champions League, but Valverde appears to have learned an important lesson at last. And despite the doom and gloom, Barca are now closing in on two trophies at the end of this season.
