When you play on the ‘edge of the sword’ all season, you are bound to be cut at one point and that happened to Barcelona today…almost. The Catalans just love to play on the edge of offside but today they found an unlikely opponent – Celta Vigo punished them three times and shocked the home crowd with a 3-1 result just 30 minutes before the end of the game. But the Catalans continued to grind and equalized in the space of four minutes. But the real drama happened deep in injury time, when VAR correctly pointed out that Dani Olmo was brought down in the penalty area. While Real Madrid fans were pulling off their heir in front of TV, Raphinha calmly kept the title race alive with a 97th minute winner: Barcelona – Celta 4-3. As the saying goes, “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword,” and once again Barcelona played with fire. It looked like they might get burned just when they needed to keep a safe distance from Real Madrid — but after this win, they left the Madrid side in the rearview mirror.🚨Raphinha marque sur penalty pour offrir la victoire au Barça !!!Donner lui son ballon d’or 🇧🇷🌕 pic.twitter.com/hKxHm9JwRL— Gio Raphinha 🇧🇷 (Fan) (@GioRaphinha_) April 19, 2025 Just like Serhou Guirassy scored a hat-trick against Barcelona in the Champions League a few days ago (though it didn’t hurt too much, since they advanced to the semifinals), one of the standout players in the rented stadium this time was Borja Iglesias. The man nicknamed “Panda” in Spain, discarded by Betis after Manuel Pellegrini lost faith in him, transformed from a cuddly teddy bear into a beast who tore apart the defense of one of Europe’s top teams. Iglesias scored a hat-trick and showed how much he thrives in open space. That space was the result of Barcelona’s sloppiness, but they still managed to claw back from a two-goal deficit and prove they’re ready to win the title, thanks to players who can change the course of a match with a single move.Barcelona’s second goal, Dani Olmo#Dani #Olmo #Barcelona #barcavigo #Celtavigo #LALIGA pic.twitter.com/12bgXzkEgZ— manksa (@manksa______) April 19, 2025 On the first goal, Borja punished Wojciech Szczesny’s poor reaction. On the second, he took advantage of a huge blunder by Frenkie de Jong. On the third, he ran onto a deep pass from Sergio Carreira like he was alone in a park back home in Compostela. The last player to score a hat-trick against Barcelona at home (then at the Camp Nou) was Karim Benzema in the 2022 Copa del Rey, before that Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League, and earlier still Diego Forlan with Villarreal and Andriy Shevchenko with Dynamo Kyiv in 1997. Borja Iglesias won’t forget this Saturday afternoon, especially since he had only scored five goals in the league before. He took full advantage of Hansi Flick’s broken geometry set and the crumbling defensive lines. That’s what you get when you play risky football.⚽️ GOAL: Raphinha🇪🇸 Barcelona 3-3 Celta Vigopic.twitter.com/JOftG9qI1X— Goals Xtra (@GoalsXtra) April 19, 2025 But Barcelona fans have come to accept that risk as the norm. How many goals this season have been disallowed thanks to perfectly executed offside traps? How many times has the Catalan giant survived stressful situations? How many times have they shown the ability to bounce back? Too many to count. Add this match against Celta to that collection — apparently, Barca and Celta just can’t play a normal game. In the first half of the season, Claudio Giraldez’s team came back from 0–2 to earn a draw. Now, the likely future champions of Spain miraculously held onto all three points.Barcelona’s first goal, Ferran Torres#Ferran #Torres #Barcelona #barcavigo #Celtavigo #LALIGA pic.twitter.com/nfSbNSqj2D— manksa (@manksa______) April 19, 2025 Partly thanks to Flick’s substitutions. He brought on Lamine Yamal (even though he wanted to rest him after 24 straight matches) and Dani Olmo, and that brought belief back to the home team — even at 1–3. Olmo reduced the score five minutes after coming on, assisted by Raphinha, and then the Brazilian waited for a perfect cross from Yamal and in just four minutes, Barca brought the game back to 3–3. With half an hour still to play, including stoppage time, everyone knew what was coming. It was one of those matches where you could feel the comeback in the air — nothing could stop it. The only question was how. Even though Celta had a chance to win through former Barca player Oscar Mingueza, everything pointed to a 4–3 win for the best team in Spain. And that’s what happened. Dani Olmo once again played a key role, drawing the penalty that Raphinha converted — likely securing the league title. Because if Barca can survive this kind of math and geometry, even Real Madrid won’t be able to stop them.LA LIGA – MATCHDAY 32FridayEspanyol – Getafe 1-0 (1-0)/Kumbulla 39/SaturdayRayo Vallecano – Valencia 1-1 (1-0)/Tarrega 45 og – Sadiq 75/Barcelona – Celta 4-3 (1-1)/Torres 12, Olmo 64, Raphinha 68, 90+7(p) – Iglesias 15, 52, 62/19:30: (1.88) Mallorca (3.35) Leganes (4.50)22:00: (6.25) Las Palmas (3.90) Atl.Madrid (1.57)Sunday15:00: (4.80) Valladolid (3.60) Osasuna (1.85)17:15: (1.75) Villareal (3.70) Sociedad (5.40)19:30: (2.10) Sevilla (3.00) Alaves (4.20)22:00: (1.70) Real Madrid (4.00) Ath.Bilbao (4.75)Monday22:00: (2.95) Girona (3.40) Betis (2.55)***odds are subject to change***
