Barcelona fought back from 3-1 down to beat Celta Vigo 4-3 in a rollercoaster encounter, with a stoppage-time penalty by Raphinha extending their lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga to seven points.
Barcelona took the lead in the 12th minute through Ferran Torres but conceded an equaliser three minutes later when Wojciech Szczesny misread a cross and allowed Borja Iglesias to score. The Spanish forward then stunned the home fans when he scored two more goals in the second half, twice racing through to beat the keeper on his way to a hat-trick.
However, Barça’s Dani Olmo and Raphinha soon netted four minutes apart to draw level at 3-3. Celta held on for almost half an hour but conceded a late penalty for a foul on Olmo which was awarded after a check by the video assistant referee, with Raphinha stepping up to fire the ball into the top corner in the 98th minute.
“This is football. We wanted to win this game but we weren’t always at our best. But the team came through in the end and the crowd pushed us on right to the finish,” Barça substitute and goalscorer Olmo told Dazn. “It’s three points towards our objective but we have to keep going.”
Madrid will seek to return Barcelona’s advantage to four points when they host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday night.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling because we did a lot of things right. They’ve got such a high level, especially in the final third. They’re capable of these things,” Celta’s Pablo Durán said. “We should be very proud of ourselves, coming here and showing a lot of character, playing our football. For a lot of the game we were better than them, but we go away with a bad feeling because of the result.”
In Germany Bayern Munich had little trouble beating lowly Heidenheim 4-0 to put themselves within touching distance of the Bundesliga title. The table now shows Bayern at the top with 72 points, nine clear of Bayer Leverkusen who face St Pauli on Sunday, with four rounds left to play.
With Bayern racing into a three-goal lead after just 36 minutes – courtesy of Harry Kane’, Konrad Laimer and Kingsley Coman – there was little doubt about the outcome. Joshua Kimmich then rifled a shot home for 4-0 in the 56th minute as Bayern surged ahead at full throttle in their pursuit of another league crown.
Harry Kane celebrates after the match. Photograph: Heiko Becker/Reuters
Heidenheim, fuelled by pride and eager to salvage something from an otherwise dismal performance, came close to pulling back a goal just after the hour mark. But Bayern keeper Jonas Urbig was sharp and alert, diving low to deny Sirlord Conteh with a smart save. For the hosts, the situation looks bleak: they are third from bottom in the relegation playoff places with 22 points, seven behind St Pauli, who occupy the last safe spot.
Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain continued their quest to become the only team in the French top flight to remain unbeaten throughout a season with a routine 2-1 home win over Le Havre. Luis Enrique, with the title win wrapped up two weeks ago, made nine changes from the side that advanced to the Champions League semi-finals in midweek despite losing the second leg against Aston Villa.
The hosts took the lead in the eighth minute when Bradley Barcola rolled a pass into the box to Désiré Doué whose control took him past his marker before he hit a shot that took a deflection on its way to the net.
Le Havre were completely outplayed in the first half and were relieved to go into the break just one goal down but PSG doubled their lead five minutes after the interval. After some intricate close passing around the opposition area, Senny Mayulu dinked the ball over onrushing keeper Mathieu Gorgelin leaving Gonçalo Ramos with the simplest of tap-ins from close range. The visitors pulled one goal back on the hour mark through Issa Soumaré’s header from a corner kick move but were unable to muster another chance on target as treble-chasing PSG earned their 10th consecutive league win.
- This story will be updated
