Celta Vigo Bravely Matched Barcelona But Not Lionel Messi, Coach Says

Celta Vigo coach said they were able to match Barcelona as the game went on but not the team’s captain, Lionel Messi.

On Saturday (June 27), Celta managed to end the match against Barcelona with a 2-2 draw, leaving the Catalans behind their LaLiga rivals Real Madrid as favorites to win the 2019/20 title. Despite playing another significant role during the match, this marks Messi's third consecutive game without scoring a goal.

It was Barca’s veteran striker Luis Suarez who scored both goals for the club, with Messi playing the role of the facilitator. The back-to-back assists saw the Argentine completing 17 just for this season alone. This has convinced Celta coach Oscar Garcia Junyent that Messi can still control the game even without hitting the back of the net.

After the match, Junyent reflected on his squad’s impressive comeback in the second half. However, the veteran coach emphasized that while his players did a great job in forcing a draw, he admitted that Messi still managed to impose dominance throughout the game and no one has found a way to stop it.

"Barcelona have the best player in the world in their squad who can change the game at anytime. Today, he played a crucial role in both of their goals so it’s difficult to stop him and no one has found the formula yet, neither in play nor in set pieces,” Junyent said on Barca TV (via Times Of India) after the match.

Junyent went on to commend his Celta team for bravely taking on a more talented Barcelona team.

“If we had to draw the level, we have to play brave football. We wanted to show courage and my players did that in the second half,” he added.

Meanwhile, Suarez expressed his disappointment with the team coaches for not being able to make certain adjustments during the game. Celta’s Iago Aspas equaled his impressive brace to force a draw, but Suarez believes there could have been something the coaches should have done in order to prevent that from happening.

"What's wrong with us? That's what coaches are for, to analyse the situations. We gave everything on the field of play and you are left with the feeling that we are dropping lots of points away from home which we did not drop other seasons," Suarez claimed.

After all, many believe that Barcelona still had the chance to walk away with a win. However, fans think that Antoine Griezmann made a terrible mistake of turning his back as Aspas struck the ball with his left foot, which resulted to a second goal for Celta.