Three takeaways from Barcelona 1-0 Celta Vigo | La Liga MD32

A combination of factors, both on and off the field, affected the flow of the game on the night and slowed down the tempo, and Barcelona eventually had to defend deep to take the win and restore their nine-point lead at the top. Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from Barcelona 1-0 Celta Vigo. Two damning blows Barcelona’s first half against Celta Vigo last night was a difficult one for the team, but equally bizarre when one looks at it in that sense.

Joao Cancelo was taken off. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images) First, Joao Cancelo was forced out through injury, leaving the field before the 25-minute mark and forcing Hansi Flick to make an early substitution. Less than 20 minutes later, Lamine Yamal went down immediately after converting the penalty and could not continue, forcing Flick to use up another substitution window before half-time.

By half-time, the Catalans had thus lost two of their biggest attacking presences and two substitution windows. Further, they even lost their momentum by that time as a medical emergency in the stands led to the game being stalled for close to 15 minutes. To lose Yamal and Cancelo at this critical stage of the season comes as a huge blow, and the tensions were indeed high after the game.

While initial reports around Cancelo’s situation are promising and indicate it could just be a knock, the story with Yamal is concerning as he may have suffered a hamstring tear. He will, thus, be out for a few weeks at least. A clean sheet under pressure Barcelona kept a clean sheet.