Valverde left Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez on the bench for Wednesday's LaLiga trip to Celta Vigo.

Head coach Ernesto Valverde placed Paco Alcacer to lead the line in attack supported by Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, and Denis Suarez, with Andre Gomes starting alongside Paulinho in central midfield.

January arrival Yerry Mina made his second LaLiga appearance next to Thomas Vermaelen at centerback, while Nelson Semedo and Lucas Digne started at fullback with Samuel Umtiti, Sergi Roberto, and Jordi Alba also among the substitutes.

The game started a little bit tight.

In minute 36 Barca made it one-nil with a wonderful goal scored by Ousmane Dembele, but it was canceled in the last minute of the first half by Celta Vigo’s Jonathan Castro Otto.

The second half was heated from the very first minute, and with 30 minutes left, Messi got in the game for Coutinho and Andre Gomes was substituted for Sergi Roberto and with 64 minutes on the clock, Paco Alcacer scored the second for the Catalans.

Sergi Roberto, who was in for only 11 minutes, saw the red and was sent off for pulling Lago Aspas who was going for the goal with no defenders to stop him from scoring.

Barca’s second was again denied with only eight minutes left, this time by Iago Aspas, and the match ended with two-two on the score sheet.

Ernesto Valverde is seemingly targeting the Copa del Rey final

Head coach Ernesto Valverde seemingly had one eye on Saturday's copa del rey final against Sevilla after he benched Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez for Barcelona's trip to Celta. Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was named Barca captain for the first time.

The last clash between Sevilla and Barcelona almost ended as a nightmare for Barcelona, as Sevilla had the advantage with two-nil on the score sheet.

Only before the referee blew the final whistle, Suarez scored Barca’s first, with two minutes remaining before full-time. Then, Messi shined once more to save the day and made it two-two on the score sheet only one minute after Suarez’s opening for Barca.

Barcelona’s heavy loss, as Roma makes comeback

Earlier this month, on the UEFA Champions League stage, Barcelona met AS Roma in the quarterfinals.

In the first leg, at Camp Nou, Barca seemed to have the absolute advantage and finished the match with four-one on the score sheet, with Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas scoring two of their own goals which were the first two of the match. In the minute 59 Pique made it three-nil for Barca. Then, at the 80-minute mark, Dzeko scored Roma’s first, but Suarez scored the fourth goal for the Catalans, six minutes after Dzeko’s goal.

In the second leg at Roma’s Stadio Olimpico with Messi not in his best form, Barca players made a very poor display as Roma controlled almost every inch on the pitch and Eden Dzeko scored a blaster for Roma with only six minutes in the game. Then, to compensate for their own goals in the first leg, De Rossi scored Roma’s second from a penalty kick in minute 58 and for the third and last goal of the game, Manolas scored with eight minutes left making it four-four on aggregate. It was the goal that pushed Italy’s capital team through to the semifinals with Dzeko’s away goal making all the difference.
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