BARCELONA: Hansi Flick ran onto the field on the final whistle and lifted Raphinha off his feet in a bear hug.
The Brazil forward deserved being singled out for extra praise from Barcelona’s coach. He had just led a thrilling 4-3 fightback over Celta Vigo by scoring two late goals including a clutch penalty for an injury-time winner.
Barcelona remained on pace for the Spanish league title as they opened up a seven-point gap over Real Madrid before the defending champion host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
“It was amazing to see at this stage how this team gives everything to never give up,” Flick said. He added that at halftime he told Raphinha he needed him “as a leader” on the field.
Raphinha’s double let him reach 30 goals in all competitions this season, the best of his career.
Lewandowski injury worry ahead of big games
The loss might come at a price, however. Barcelona top scorer Robert Lewandowski asked to be substituted in the final minutes while touching his left thigh.
“We have to wait until tomorrow,” Flick said.
There is no let up for Barcelona with three titles in play.
Barcelona face Mallorca in the league on Tuesday and Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final next weekend. Four days after that they will start their Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan.
Raphinha and Olmo spoil Iglesias treble
It looked like another easy win for Barcelona when Ferran Torres fired the hosts ahead early.
But Celta striker Borja Iglesias started his spectacular three-goal performance just three minutes later, scoring on the break after Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny failed to reach a low cross.
Iglesias stunned the home fans again by scoring twice more in the 59th and 62nd from passes from Celta’s own area that were poorly defended by Barcelona.
Iglesias got his second goal after Frenkie De Jong let a long goal kick that looked harmless bounce past him, apparently thinking a teammate would control it. Instead, Iglesias pounced on the ball and drilled a shot inside the far post. Iglesias made it a hat trick when Barcelona’s defense let him run onto a long ball and dink his shot past Szczesny.
Barcelona looked done but Flick’s side quickly rallied behind Raphinha — with some help from substitutes Olmo and Lamine Yamal.
Raphinha slipped a ball through for Olmo to take Barcelona’s second goal. He then rose up to thump in Yamal’s cross with a powerful header. And with Lewandowski on the bench, Raphinha beat goalkeeper Vincente Guaita from the high-pressure penalty deep in injury time after a video review convinced the referee to penalize a foul by Celta defender Yoel Lago on Olmo.
Celta, which held Barcelona to 2-2 in their other meeting this season, fell into eighth place.
Mallorca moved into seventh after a 0-0 draw with Leganes.
Also, Umar Sadiq struck to help Valencia rally for 1-1 at Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha leads Barcelona’s thrilling 4-3 comeback over Celta in La Liga
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Raphinha leads Barcelona’s thrilling 4-3 comeback over Celta in La Liga
- The Brazil forward deserved being singled out for extra praise from Barcelona’s coach
- He had just led a thrilling 4-3 fightback over Celta Vigo by scoring two late goals
Villa face Chelsea test as Premier League title race heats up
- Liverpool manager Arne Slot is grappling with a striker crisis after Alexander Isak fractured his leg
- Unai Emery’s third-placed Villa are still considered rank outsiders for the Premier League title
LONDON: Aston Villa face a tough challenge at Chelsea on Saturday after muscling their way into the Premier League title race alongside Arsenal and Manchester City.
The Gunners, top of the tree at Christmas, host Brighton, while Pep Guardiola’s in-form City travel to Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot is grappling with a striker crisis after Alexander Isak fractured his leg, while Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes also faces a spell on the sidelines.
Rogers spearheads Villa charge
Unai Emery’s third-placed Villa are still considered rank outsiders for the Premier League title even though they are just three points behind leaders Arsenal.
Villa’s 2-1 home win against Manchester United was their 10th consecutive victory in all competitions — the first time they have achieved the feat as a top-flight team since 1914.
One of the major reasons for their recent success is the form of England midfielder Morgan Rogers, who failed to register a single goal involvement in his first seven matches in all competitions.
Now it is a different story: he has recorded 11 goal involvements in his past 15 appearances and the quality of his goals has been striking.
Rogers’ seven Premier League goals this season have come from just 2.86 expected goals — a metric used to determine how likely a player is to convert a chance.
But football analysts Opta give Villa just a five percent chance of becoming English champions for the first time since 1981.
Emery’s men have an opportunity to silence the doubters when they take on fourth-placed Chelsea, with a match at Arsenal to follow just days later.
Slot’s goals headache
In the early weeks of the season, Arne Slot would probably have envisaged Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak as two of his first-choice attackers.
Now the Liverpool boss has neither — Salah is with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Isak faces at least two months on the sidelines after fracturing his leg against Tottenham.
Slot has steadied the ship at Anfield after a shocking run of six defeats in seven Premier League matches that left Liverpool’s title defense in tatters.
A run of three wins and two draws in five league games has lifted the reigning champions into fifth spot, but there will be concerns over where the goals are going to come from ahead of the visit of bottom club Wolves.
Isak’s absence will heap more pressure on the shoulders of top-scorer Hugo Ekitike.
The summer signing has netted eight times in the Premier League — twice the tallies of Salah and Cody Gakpo.
Fernandes blow for Man Utd
Bruno Fernandes has been a shining light and virtually ever-present during Manchester United’s recent lean years.
But manager Ruben Amorim is going to have to plan for a period without his talisman after the Portugal midfielder pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury in United’s 2-1 defeat at Villa Park.
While the prognosis is unclear, Amorim has already ruled Fernandes out of United’s clash against Newcastle at Old Trafford on Friday, among a list of absentees, with the Portuguese boss urging the rest of his squad to “step up” in the absence of his “impossible to replace” captain.
“It’s massive,” defender Diogo Dalot told Sky Sports. “We don’t know how bad it is but for him to come off (in) the game, we know how tough he is.”
Playmaker Fernandes has five goals and seven assists in the Premier League this season for inconsistent United, who are also without top-scorer Bryan Mbeumo, on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Cameroon.
Fixtures:
Friday
Manchester United v Newcastle (2000 GMT)
Saturday (1500 GMT unless stated)
Nottingham Forest v Manchester City (1230), Arsenal v Brighton, Brentford v Bournemouth, Burnley v Everton, Liverpool v Wolverhampton, West Ham v Fulham, Chelsea v Aston Villa (1730)
Sunday
Sunderland v Leeds (1400), Crystal Palace v Tottenham (1630)
