Barcelona announced the arrival of their new boss Xavi Hernandez in the early hours of Sunday – and were already purring on the pitch on Sunday afternoon – but only until the half time break! Second-half collapse and a late conceded goal saw the troubled giants draw 3-3 despite racing into a 3-0 lead. Three poor goals, more calamity across the pitch and yet another injury of Ansu Fati ruined the day started off so well.With their interim boss Sergi Barjuan still on the touchline, the boys in red and blue stormed through the northwest of Spain with a fine attacking display and three goals in just over half an hour.It was meant to be – Xavi is officially the new Barca managerAnsu Fati is seen as the leader of a new-look Barca and he led by example by slotting a beautiful early goal from just inside the area. The exciting youngster cut in and curled a terrific right-footer past Matias Dituro.The lead was doubled by captain Sergio Busquets with a great shot from outside the box inside the opening 20 minutes and Memphis Depay added the third with the easiest of headers on 34 minutes. For too many times this season, everything went wrong for Barca. And again it proved that nothing is straightforward for this Messi-less Barca team.Fati had to come off with what looked like a serious thigh muscle injury just before the break and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen gifted a goal back to Celta with a blunder that allowed Iago Aspas to reduce the deficit shortly after the break. Quite a few of the visitors’ fans must have gotten rather nervous at that point – and for a good reason. Their beloved players did little to give them confidence with a performance that went notably downhill as the game went on.
Celta had two goals chalked off in the second half. Galhardo and Nolito both found the net just to see their efforts cancelled due to an offside position and a handball, respectively. It was a warning that the visitors failed to take seriously enough.The hosts wouldn’t stop in their attempts to get back into the game and it simply had to be Nolito, the former Barca and Manchester City player, to come back and haunt his old club. Just a few minutes after his denied strike, he found the net again – and this time it stood! A header nestled in Ter Stegen’s net and the scoreline read Celta 2 Barcelona 3.Frenkie de Jong had a great chance to settle the nerves with five minutes left, but his promising effort only bounced off the crossbar. That miss and Barca’s sloppiness was to be actually punished deep in injury time. Iago Aspas, the former Liverpool midfielder curled a dramatic leveller to break Barca hearts and give Xavi more food for thought. The former club captain must be thinking that he’ll have a lot to do in his new role.LA LIGA – ROUND 13FridayAthletic Club – Cadiz 0-1 (0-1)/Calvi 6/SaturdayEspanyol – Granada 2-0 (2-0)/Pedrosa 30, De Tomas 42/Celta Vigo – Barcelona 3-3 (0-3)/Aspas 51, 90+6, Nolito 73 – Fati 5, Busquets 18, Depay 34/20.30: (2.55) Alaves (3.05) Levante (3.25)23.00: (1.37) Real Madrid (5.60) Rayo Vallecano (8.50)Sunday16.00: (1.58) Villarreal (3.90) Getafe (7.25)18.15: (4.10) Valencia (3.50) Atletico Madrid (2.00)20.30: (3.20) Osasuna (3.10) Real Sociedad (2.55)20.30: (2.10) Mallorca (3.20) Elche (4.20)23.00: (2.95) Betis (3.25) Sevilla (2.60)***odds are subject to change