Barca thrashed by Celta

Barcelona were beaten for the first time in La Liga this season as Celta Vigo romped to a stunning 4-1 victory at Balaidos on Wednesday.

Liverpool fans would be forgiven for not recognising the player who made 14 appearances without scoring in the league after arriving at Anfield in 2013.

Aspas had a decent reputation in Spain before his ill-fated move to Anfield but some were drawing some ridiculous conclusions. With Rafinha injured, Barcelona have applied to LFP and Federation Internationale de Football Association to find a some way to register Arda Turan, but midfield at the moment, although all first-team players are ready to play, looks very shallow for current champions.

And then, just three minutes later, Aspas intercepted a bad pass by Barca’s Gerard Pique and made the most of it, brilliantly darting in to pop another shot by Ter Stegen.

Fourth-placed Celta, who finished eighth last season, are level on 10 points with Real Madrid and Villarreal in the La Liga table. It was the first loss for Luis Enrique’s squad this season.

Tomorrow’s game, however, could see the more common troika of Suarez-Messi-Neymar back on the pitch in front of regulars Iniesta, Rakitic and Busquets. Felipe Melo scored the game’s only goal in the 56th minute as the Nerazzurri claimed a fifth win from five matches this season.

Celta Vigo also received goals from Nolito, which was a thing of beauty, in the 26th minute, and John Guidetti in the 83rd minute.

Barca responded as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez both forced saves from Sergio Alvarez but Celta were not intimidated and continued to take the game to the visitors.

Guerra, who joined Los Franjirrojos as a free agent on transfer deadline day, converted Roberto Trashorra’s pass four minutes before the break and that proved the decisive moment of the match.

It was all the more apparent in Real’s 1-0 win over Granada – the side against which Ronaldo scored five earlier in the year – as the Portugal skipper missed several chances, with Los Blancos needing a Karim Benzema goal to bail them out.

That gave Barcelona a glimmer of hope, but just four minutes later Guidetti killed any hope of a comeback.