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Barcelona stumbles again and paves the way for Real Eden of Hazard

A mess ! Despite an excellent match from their nuggets Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig, FC Barcelona still stumbled at Celta Vigo 2-2 on Saturday for the 32nd day of La Liga, seriously compromising their title chances.

A breath of fresh air, then the storm: numb since the recovery, FC Barcelona returned to their game thanks to a double from Luis Suarez (20th and 67th) and their youngsters Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig, who woke him up from his lethargy, before diving back into the goals of Fedor Smolov (50th) and Iago Aspas (88th), with an ingenious free kick. The Blaugranas temporarily take first place (69 pts) ahead of Real Madrid (68 pts), who play Sunday at the red lantern Espanyol Barcelona.

After their 0-0 draw in Seville last week, Barça, with this new draw, has undoubtedly opened the way for Madrid’s rival for the Liga title: with a match within their reach at the last, the men of Zinédine Zidane could be two points ahead of Barça six games from the end of the championship … a mattress more outdated since early February at the top of the ranking!

Against the 16th of Liga, Barça did not show a face of impassive serenity. Several times, the Catalans have seemed to the limit, saved sometimes by the clumsiness and the bad choices of the adversaries, as on this last shot of Nolito which could have offered the victory to the locals (87th), or by the firm hands of Marc- André ter Stegen (79th). This is the paradox of this meeting. Because on the ground, Barça did the job, signing their best game there since the resumption.

No paradox

The nuggets Riqui Puig (20 years old) and Ansu Fati (17 years old) did not score, but proved to be decisive in the fleeting renaissance of Barça, asleep since its 0-0 in Seville and its unexpected little success against Bilbao 1- 0 Tuesday. The midfielder Puig (5 La Liga games with Barça this season) had made three matches, which was their first start this season, and left winger Fati (18 matches, 5 goals and one assist this season) ) energized the game of Barça …

And Quique Setién, who made the bet to align them straight away at Balaidos, can thank them: his poker move did not work to pocket the three points, but Barça found his DNA, which is why Setién had been hired in January after the ouster of Ernesto Valverde. With his double, Uruguayan center-forward Luis Suarez, who underwent surgery on the external meniscus of the right knee on January 12, also confirmed that he had returned to 100%, after taking advantage of confinement to treat his injury.

The 4th top scorer in the Spanish championship (13 goals) had not yet scored since the post-pandemic recovery. After finding the grounds in half-hour stretches, he chained three matches as a titular player, and ended up regaining his cold realism with this ingenious double on Saturday.

The Atlético continues

With this setback, the Catalans, feverish leaders, can almost say goodbye to their Liga title chances … except the huge underperformance of the Madrid rival Sunday (22:00) at Espanyol, which could revive the suspense in the saga summer football. And the real test for this Barça will be next Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. against the third in the standings, Atlético Madrid, winner of Alavés on Saturday evening 2-1 and who has come back strongly since the resumption.

Diego Simeone’s men won thanks to a goal by Saul Niguez’s header on a free kick drawn by Kieran Trippier (59th), then thanks to a questionable penalty caused by a Marcos Llorente still electric as soon as he entered (57th) in place of Alvaro Morata, and transformed by Diego Costa (73rd), before Joselu’s score was reduced (90th + 3), again on penalty.

Less impactful than against Levante Tuesday (1-0), the men of Diego Simeone, however, chained a fourth victory in a row since the 1-1 conceded in Bilbao for their return to play, and returned in great shape, on the podium, to eleven Barça points.

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