Football

Barca yet to win in Balaidos since 2015

Published

8 years ago

April 16, 2018

By Boluwatife Ezekiel Olaleye

Celta Vigo’s chances of securing European football look all but over after their weekend defeat against Leganes and next up Barcelona come to town, although despite being league leaders, the Catalans haven’t managed a victory at Estadio Balaidos in three years.

Their last win there came on April 5, 2015 when a lone goal from Jeremy Mathieu gave Luis Enrique’s men all three points on a night in which the home side deserved better.

Juan Carlos Unzue knows all too well about how impressive Celta have been in this fixture as he was at Barcelona in September 2015 when they visited Balaidos.

That night, they were surprisingly thrashed 4-1 thanks to an Iago Aspas brace and goals from Nolito and John Guidetti, with Neymar netting a late consolation.

Last year, they also scored four times en route to a 4-3 win, with Pione Sisto, Aspas, a Mathieu own goal and Pablo Hernandez meaning Gerard Pique’s brace and a Neymar strike were for nothing.

This season, the sides have already met three times.

Their first meeting in LaLiga at the Camp Nou ended 2-2 before the clubs drew each other once more in the Copa del Rey.

A 1-1 draw in Vigo was followed up with a 5-0 thrashing for the visitors when they visited the Blaugrana.

Celta also face up to the latest meeting with two important absentees as both Hugo Mallo and Pablo Hernandez will be missing through suspension.