29.01.2011 19:58

Prestigious point (1-1)

Aida Soriano

Barça B took a hard earned point from their game against Celta at the Mini Estadi this evening with an early goal from Edu Oriol (min 8) matched by a 62nd minute equaliser from Alex López.

Luis Enrique’s team faced a tough start to the second half of the league, with the visit of Celta, who are third in the league and have lost just two games so far this season (one of those in the opening game against Barça B ). This was a hard fought game for the B team, in which the visitors created more chances and Bartra played a key part at the heart of defence. The point leaves Barça in sixth spot with 32 points, although that may change with the result of the Granada-Betis game.

Early strike

Barça B established control over the game early on and Edu Oriol put them one up on 8 minutes after Marc Muniesa had brought the ball out of defence to set up Jonathan Soriano who played Edu in to shoot at a sharp angle past the Celta keeper Falcón to the delight of the 4.263 spectators at the Mini.

Celta reaction

Celta reacted to the goal and hit back by taking the initiative and creating a couple of good chances for De Lucas (min 13), who fired his shot over the bar, and David Rodríguez (min 20), who just failed to latch onto a loose ball.

Control

Although the hosts made few further chances in the first half, they did take control again after withstanding that Celta pressure, though the defence were called upon to cut out a number of counter attacks from Paco Herrera’s team.

De Lucas fires early warning

The second half began with a Quique de Lucas shot and that set the tone for the second half, as both teams saw chances go begging. With Soriano, injured, replaced by Saúl, Barça lost their reference point up front and their next chance came from a break by Tello down the left.

Celta draw level

After a couple more good opportunities to draw level, Celta finally got on the scoreboard when De Lucas set up Álex López in the box and he fired past Miño at the near post. Now the visitors’ tails were up and they chased the second goal with insistence, whilst Barça tried to hit them on the break, with Ilie and Thiago both testing Falcón. Just when it looked as if the hosts had weathered the storm, Celta came very close to going ahead, with only a last gasp tackle on 82 minutes from Sergi Gómez keeping out the visitors’ attackers.

Late Falcón stop earns the draw

There was still time for Barça B to come close to grabbing the three points though, with Falcón pulling off a great save from a deflected Thiago effort on 89 minutes to ensure the draw.