Three talking points from Celta Vigo 1-2 Barcelona

Lewandowski gets lucky as Barca bag Balaidos win

Barcelona had Robert Lewandowski to thank for all three points on Saturday. He smashed home a great shot in the first half and then won it late on with a penalty.

Of course it wasn’t as easy as all that. Lewandowski actually missed his original penalty, and you could almost hear his sign of relief when the kick was ordered to be retaken.

Goalkeeper Vicente Guaita had strayed off his line, probably due to Lewandowski’s stuttering technique, giving the striker and Barcelona a reprieve.

Lewandowski made no mistake second time around to bring up a half-century of goals for Barcelona. He’s done it in super quick time too – just 79 matches.

The striker is actually the third quickest player to hit the milestone behind only Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi who both did it in just 68 games.

Perhaps more importantly, and with Napoli up next, Lewandowski does appear to be back in some kind of form. That’s now four goals in his last three games and eight in 12 since the turn of the year.

First start for Vitor Roque

Vitor Roque was handed his first start for Barcelona following his January move and after completing his ridiculous one-match ban for his red card against Alaves.

The suspension came after Vitor Roque had scored two goals in two games for Barcelona and was obviously a real setback for the youngster.

Xavi put him in from the start against Celta and although he started brightly, it ended up being a pretty tough game for the youngster.

Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Vitor Roque was stationed out on the left wing, which didn’t seem to suit him at all, and seemed to lose confidence as the game progressed.

Xavi ended up taking him off just before the hour but did find some words of praise for his new signing after the match.

“Vitor Roque has been good, he lacked clarity in the final third. We attacked well, we played the game we wanted, Vitor gave us a lot of depth, he attacked spaces,” he said.

The teenager is obviously still getting used to life at Barcelona and in La Liga, but he may well be a better option off the bench than as a starter currently.

What can we expect from Barcelona against Napoli?

Barcelona managed to beat Celta on Saturday but it was another messy performance from the Catalan giants ahead of a big game against Napoli.

Xavi said his team “played well,” Lewandowski said they didn’t, while Pedri felt they were “asleep” in the second half. The differing opinions probably sum up what a confused, disjointed mess Barca seem to be right right now. Don’t forget they were playing a team that had managed just four wins all season and had lost five of their last six.

Celta missed a host of chances, particularly Iago Aspas, and only a very late, and retaken penalty, secured a rare win at Balaidos. Joao Cancelo and Jules Kounde both struggled, while Xavi will be relieved Ronald Araujo should be available to face Napoli.

The win should provide some much-needed confidence but you have to wonder what Napoli can do to a Barca defence that was posed plenty of problems by a struggling Celta side.

In attack Lewandowski seems to be back in the goals, while Lamine Yamal is also helping to carry the team but is in danger of being run into the ground such is his importance to Xavi’s side right now.

As such it’s hard to know what to expect when the champions of Italy and Spain (by the way, how odd does that sound given their form this season?) collide at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium next time out.