Barcelona, October 10 (BUS): Barcelona continues to win – at least in the Spanish League.
The Catalan club outperformed Celta Vega 1-0, Sunday, to achieve its seventh consecutive victory in the competition, regained first place and regained some confidence in a decisive Champions League match against Inter Milan, the Associated Press reported.
Barcelona were unable to replicate their league success in the group stage of the European competition, and anything but a home win against Inter on Wednesday would put the club on the brink of elimination for the second consecutive season following the departure of Lionel Messi.
Barcelona lost to Inter last week in Italy for their second consecutive Champions League defeat.
But in La Liga, Barcelona have been perfect since their opening goalless draw against Rayo Vallecano at home.
Pedri Gonzalez scored the winning goal on Sunday in the 17th minute with an easy shot into the open net after Celta defender Unai Nunez failed to clear a low cross from Jaffe Baez.
Celta, who have won three of their last five league matches, played well in the second half but failed to capitalize on their scoring chances at the Camp Nou.
“The way we played and even a draw would have been a fair result,” Celta striker Iago Aspas said. “We created five or six chances in the second half.”
A goal for the visitors was disallowed for offside in the 70th minute and Barcelona needed a good performance from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
“We suffered too much,” Barcelona defender Marcos Alonso said. “But the important thing is that in the end we got the three points.”
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said the team should have closed the match before the end of the first half.
“We suffered a lot in the second half,” Xavi said. “They had some clear chances to score at the end. It was an important victory, but there is a lot to improve.”
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, the league’s top scorer with nine goals, ended the scoring streak in the last six rounds.
The result constitutes a confrontation between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu next Sunday in the first Clasico of this season.
The two rivals have the same 22 points after eight matches, but Barcelona are ahead on goal difference.
Hernandez was without many defenders due to injuries and had to improvise a defensive lineup starting with three left-backs – Alejandro Balde played as right-back and Marcos Alonso as centre-back, with Jordi Alba in his usual position.
Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati started the match on the bench, and Rafinha and Ferran Torres got their chance right from the start.
Barcelona, who have not conceded in their last six league games, scored their second consecutive win against Celta. That was the result of another 1-0 win over Mallorca.
FC Figo occupies eleventh place with 10 points from eight matches.
Betis comments
Real Betis held onto a 0-0 draw with Valladolid despite playing for over an hour with a man falling as defender German Pezzella was sent off in the 35th minute.
Betis got a red card for defender Luiz Felipe in the 20th minute of his previous league match, a 1-0 loss to Celta.
Last Sunday’s result resulted in coach Manuel Pellegrini’s team dropping to fifth place with 16 points from eight matches.
Valladolid, after their second win of the season, was thirteenth.
KEEP ESPANYOL BACK
Joselo scored twice in the second half but Espanyol finished 19th in Cadiz with a 2-2 draw, extending their winning streak to four games.
The result left FC Barcelona out of the relegation zone.
Cadiz is unbeaten in three matches after losing the first five matches.