La Liga
champions Barcelona were stunned by a rampant Celta Vigo attack as they lost
4-3 in a chaotic encounter on Sunday. Barça had the chance to go top of the
table after
Real Madrid drew 1-1 at home to minnows Eibar but instead let in
four goals at coach Luis Enrique’s former side and slumped to their second
defeat of the season.
Atlético
Madrid go top of La Liga on 15 points, leading Real on goal difference, while
Barça are fourth on 13, one point behind Sevilla in third. Luis Enrique heavily
rotated his side after the hard-fought 2-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach in
the Champions League on Wednesday and his side paid dearly for the changes,
falling behind to Pione Sisto’s low strike in the 22nd minute.
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Iago Aspas
finished off a quick counter to double the home side’s advantage in the 31st
and two minutes later Barçaa were hit again, Jeremy Mathieu bundling into his
own net.
András Iniesta
came on at the start of the second half to mark his 600th appearance for Barça
and nearly engineered a dramatic turnaround, assisting Gerard Pique’s headed
goal and helping to win a penalty which Neymar coolly converted.
Barça were
quickly on the back foot again following an embarrassing error by goalkeeper
Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who kicked the ball against Pablo Hernández and watched
it go straight into the net.
Pique reduced
the deficit to a single goal in the 87th minute but could not undo the damage
done by Barça’s shaky defence.
Earlier on
Sunday, Fran Rico stunned the Bernabéu by heading Eibar into the lead in the
sixth minute, scoring the side’s first goal against Real in La Liga.
Gareth Bale
headed home a Cristiano Ronaldo cross to level in the 17th minute and score his
50th La Liga goal but could not prevent a fourth straight draw for the European
champions in all competitions.
“We did not
play in the first half and our opponents did. The second half was much better,
which is something we’ve been saying too much lately,” said Real’s coach
Zinedine Zidane.
Antoine
Griezmann made amends for missing a second penalty in as many games by hitting
the opening goal for Atlético and Kevin Gameiro sealed the points with a
close-range finish at the death, while captain Gabi also had a spot kick
repelled by Valencia’s penalty-saving expert.
Theguardian
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