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FULL-TIME, Barcelona 2-0 Celta Vigo: Pretty boring second half, but Barça didn’t suffer at all defensively and confirmed another easy victory and the fourth consecutive clean sheet in La Liga. Good job, boys! Enjoy the holidays!
SECOND HALF KICKOFF! Barcelona 2-0 Celta Vigo: Let’s finish the job and end the year on a high, boys!
HALFTIME, Barcelona 2-0 Celta Vigo: After a fast start by Barça, Celta managed to weather the storm and stay solid defensively, but Barça found the second goal at the perfect time to destroy Celta’s confidence going into the break. It isn’t a vintage Barça performance, but they’re winning comfortably.
GOAL!!!!! Barcelona 2-0 Celta Vigo (Messi 45’): BARÇA DOUBLE THE LEAD!!!! Jordi Alba plays a ridiculous pass to split the Celta defensse and puts Messi one on one with the goalkeeper, and you knew he wasn’t going to miss it. It’s a big goal just before halftime, and the win looks just 45 minutes away.
GOAL!!!!! Barcelona 1-0 Celta Vigo (Dembélé 10’): BARÇA TAKE THE LEAD!!! Jordi Alba finds Lionel Messi at the edge of the box, and after the captain’s shot is saved, Ousmane Dembélé buries home the rebound! Great start, deserved goal for the champs.
KICKOFF! Barcelona 0-0 Celta Vigo: Come on, boys! Don’t give me a heart attack. Please.
LINEUPS
BARCELONA
Starting XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal; Messi, Suárez, Dembélé (4-3-3)
Bench: Cillessen, Chumi, Miranda, Arthur, Aleñá, Denis, Coutinho
CELTA VIGO
Starting XI: Rubén; Mallo, Costas, Araújo, Mazán; Méndez, Yokuslu, Jozabed, Boufal; Iago Aspas, Maxi Gómez (4-4-2)
Bench: Sergio, Beltrán, Sisto, Lobotka, Hjulsager, Kevin, Cabral
Welcome to Camp Nou and Happy Holidays!!! This is the final match of 2018 for Barcelona, and it’s a big one: the La Liga leaders welcome Celta Vigo to the Greatest Stadium on Earth looking to get a victory and stay three points clear of the chasing pack. Barça really need this win, and they’ll face a good team that can cause them problems. It’s a must-watch game, and you can follow along with our LIVE BLOG!
(Note: the comments will be open only when the team news come out, because our commenter people love commenting and sometimes there are too many comments in the comments section)
MATCH INFO
Competition/Round: 2018-19 La Liga, Matchday 17
Date/Time: Saturday, December 22, 2018, 6.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 5.30pm GMT (UK), 12.30pm ET, 9.30am PT (USA), 11pm IST (India)
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Eduardo Prieto Iglesias
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM LA LIGA
How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Eleven Sports 2 (UK), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), SONY TEN 2 (India), others
How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA & Canada), others
Matchday Thread Rules
We don’t have a lot of rules here, but there are a few things to keep in mind when joining our matchday threads:
Even if the referee sucks or we lose the game, no swearing. It’s just unnecessary. Also, don’t discuss illegal streaming links. Those who do it will be warned, and those who post links will be instantly banned. Finally, be nice to each other. This is a Barcelona community and we don’t need to offend one another.
Have fun with the game! Forever and ever, no matter the competition, VISCA EL BARÇA!