Balaídos: A tricky trip
Barça and Balaídos don’t get along well. Every season, this fixture is marked in red as one of the toughest away trips in La Liga. Celta seem to have Barça’s number, and in recent years the Catalans have had to work hard to take anything positive from their visits to the Galicians' ground.
This Sunday at 9pm CET, just before the international break, the two sides will meet in Vigo once again. To put the challenge into context, the game ended 2–2 in Vigo, while when the same sides met at Montjuïc, Barça had to come back from 3–1 down to win 4–3 in the final minute. Quite a feat!
Troubled trips
Barça face difficult away grounds every year, but none has proved trickier than Balaídos. Shockingly, the team has won only two of their last ten league matches there, with four draws and four defeats, and conceding a total of 22 goals. And one of the two victories only came thanks a Lewandowski penalty in the 98th minute two seasons ago. Proof, if any were needed, that the Galicians are tough opponents, especially on home soil.
Now coached by Claudio Giráldez, the sky blues have made a rather unusual start to the season. Despite sitting in 12th place, they have only lost twice in eleven games (just like Barça). Celta have drawn seven league matches so far this campaign, all of them ending 1–1. Giráldez has built a team that’s extremely hard to beat, but who are also failing to find the match-winners they need.
Iago Aspas, Barça's nemesis
There is one player in particular who Barça fans will be worrying about this weekend. Iago Aspas has been Barça’s Achilles’ heel in recent years. His record against the Catalans is remarkable: 11 goals in 21 league games, along with several outstanding performances. In fact, Aspas is the player who has scored most often against FC Barcelona in the 21st century. This season, he has taken on a different role, alternating between starting and coming off the bench to stay in top physical shape. But either way, he remains a major threat.
Hitting form and Lewandowksi back
Despite the difficulty of the fixture, when counting games at home and away, Barça have managed three wins and just one defeat in their last four league meetings with Celta, all of them tightly contested. Another piece of good news is Lewandowski’s return from injury. The Polish striker is a key part of Flick’s system and has a particularly good record against Celta, with five goals in six matches.