Barcelona v Celta Vigo Live Football Score 9 October 2022

Barcelona v Celta Vigo Live Football Score 9 October 2022

Barcelona will be bidding to make it seven La Liga victories in a row when they continue their domestic campaign at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday night. The Catalan outfit will enter the match off the back of a 1-0 loss to Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night, while Celta recorded a 1-0 victory over Real Betis in the league last weekend Barcelona are flying in La Liga, winning each of their six matches since the goalless draw with Rayo Vallecano on the opening weekend of the 2022-23 campaign. Xavi’s side have incredibly not even conceded a goal in the league since the 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad on August 21, keeping clean sheets in their last five against Real Valladolid, Sevilla, Cadiz, Elche and Mallorca, scoring 15 times in the process.

The run has allowed them to move to the top of the table, albeit level on points (19) with the champions Real Madrid, and it will seemingly be a fascinating battle for the title this term, with every dropped point likely to be precious due to the strength of both sides. Barcelona have serious work to do when it comes to the Champions League, though, as they lost their second straight game in the competition on Tuesday evening, going down 1-0 to Inter Milan at San Siro. The Catalan outfit are currently third in Group C on three points, three behind second-placed Inter and six from leaders Bayern Munich, with the team set to welcome Inter to Camp Nou for a huge contest next week.

Celta suffered a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona at Camp Nou last season, but they did record a 2-1 victory in the famous stadium in May 2021, and the Sky Blues will be the fresher of the two sides on Sunday night. Eduardo Coudet’s side suffered back-to-back defeats to Atletico Madrid and Valencia before the international break, conceding seven times in the process, but they will enter this match off the back of a morale-boosting win. Gabri Veiga scored the only goal of the match against Real Betis last weekend, with the victory leaving Celta in 11th position in the table, boasting 10 points from their opening seven matches.

The Vigo-based outfit finished 11th in Spain’s top flight last season, but they were eighth in 2020-21 and sixth in 2015-16, so a push into the top half of the division is certainly possible this term. Celta do not have any European commitments this season but still have a busy October, facing Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid, Getafe and Almeria before the end of the month.

Barcelona have six players currently on the sidelines, with Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie the latest individuals to pick up injuries, the former’s issue occurring against Inter.

Kessie then suffered an injury in training on Wednesday, with the pair joining Hector Bellerin, Ronald Araujo, Memphis Depay and Jules Kounde on the treatment table.

Frenkie de Jong has been back in training this week, though, and the Netherlands international is set to be available for the contest at Camp Nou.

Gerard Pique could replace Christensen in the back four, while Ansu Fati and Alejandro Balde are pushing to return to the side following the clash with Inter at San Siro.

As for Celta, Franco Cervi will miss the match through suspension, but the visitors are otherwise in good shape heading into the clash at Camp Nou.

Iago Aspas should be back in the starting side after being named on the bench against Real Betis last time out, with Carles Perez likely to be the player to make way in terms of the starting XI.Following a painful defeat to Inter Milan to make their Champions League lives incredibly complicated, Barcelona return home to the Greatest Stadium on Earth for some Sunday Night Fútbol fun in La Liga against Celta Vigo.

The loss in Italy was costly in all sorts of ways, with a big refereeing controversy, a very poor performance and more nad injury luck in what’s becoming a true crisis that is really testing the depth of a squad still trying to find itself with so many new names and a brutal October schedule.

Xavi Hernández disappointed once again in another big European test and the young coach must learn quickly from his mistakes, both with team selection and tactical approach in continental matches. There are three games left in the group stage and Barça control their destiny, but Xavi must find a way to get his team to play as well in Europe as they do in Spain.

But it’s undeniable that Xavi has the right formula for La Liga games, which is why Barça finished last weekend top of the table for the first time in 28 months. Real Madrid went back on top with a narrow win over Getafe on Saturday, but all Barça need is a 1-0 victory of their won to go back to first place and arrive at the Santiago Bernabéu next Sunday as the league leaders on goal difference.

It won’t be easy to get even a 1-0 win against Celta, though. The Sky Blues are having a solid season, and are coming off a big win at home over a great Real Betis side. They did lose big on the road against Atlético Madrid and Valencia before the victory over Betis, however, which suggests they are still struggling to find a way to compete against the big teams away from home.

Xavi might be forced to rotate his squad and go with a few inexperienced players from Barça Atlètic to preserve bodies for the massive game against Inter next Wednesday, so Celta could be facing a weaker Barça side on Sunday. Whatever the lineup is, though, Barça will be considered favorites and will want to get over the disaster in Milan and try to play as well as they can beyond just getting three points.

Celta are always a tough test, Barça haven’t played well since the international break, are missing big names through injury and could be looking ahead to the two giant clashes next week. This has all the makings of a trap game, and we’ll see if Barça can show character and strength to put together a great performance and send the crowd home happy.