Barcelona defeated Celta Vigo 3-1 to complete the best start to a season in their 113 year history but suffered another injury blow with full-back Adriano ruled out of Wednesday’s match with Celtic.
Danny Alves replaced his fellow Brazilian in the 39th minute with Barca confirming the extent of Adriano’s injury on the club website.
It read: “Adriano Correia sustained a tear in the abductor of his right thigh in tonight’s match against Celta. He’ll be out of action for three weeks, according to the Club’s Medical Services.“
The win over Celta means that Tito Vilanova’s side have taken 28 points from their first ten matches with only a home draw with Real Madrid denying the new boss a 100% league record.
Adriano and David Villa scored in the 21st and 26th minutes to give Barcelona a 2-1 lead at halftime, with Mario Bermejo netting in-between those strikes for Celta before Jordi Alba put the result beyond doubt with a goal in the 61st minute.
Before the game new dad Lionel Messi paraded his Golden Boot trophy for being the top scorer in Europe’s domestic leagues last season but was unable to find the Celta net.
Barcelona took the lead when Adriano played Pedro wide for the winger to charge forward and cross back to the Brazilian defender who volleyed past goalkeeper Javi Varas but Celta hit right back as forward Mario Bermejo latched onto a rebound to strike the ball past Victor Valdes.
The goals continued as Villa and Andres Iniesta restored Barca’s advantage two minutes later with Villa netting from a clever back-healer from the midfielder with Alba completing the scoring in the 61st minute.
Barca played the last two minutes with Messi taking a knock but the extent of any injury is not yet known.
In Russia Spartak Moscow won 5-0 away to Kryla Sovetov to move into fourth spot in the league ahead of their trip to Benfica on Wednesday. Benfica were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Vitoria Guimares.
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Can’t wait for the game and to show the world what Celtic are all about.
All best on Tuesday
125th anniversary display v Barca IMPORTANT INFO
On the 7th of November, 125 years and one day from Celtic’s founding meeting in St Mary’s in the Calton, we take on Barcelona in the Champions League.
With brilliant financial backing from the Celtic support, we have organised a fantastic full-stadium display to mark the occasion and celebrate our incredible history and we need EVERY fan to play their part in making it a success. For that to happen, we need everyone to make a big effort to get in early and to follow these instructions.
Do NOT raise the material at your seat during You’ll Never Walk Alone. Instead, wait for the cue from the Green Brigade corner at section 111 to do so before the teams come out. With your continued support we can, 125 years on from the founding of our club, continue to show the world just what the great Celtic support can do.
Green Brigade
Hail hail!