Despite Barcelona having trouble with Celta of late – including squandering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 earlier in the season – their strong H2H and overall home records seemingly gave Hansi Flick little to fret about.
Robert Lewandowski and Inigo Martínez both went close leading up to the opener, when Ferran Torres took it upon himself to round Marcos Alonso and bury a right-footed shot into the far corner.
But it was just three minutes before Celta caught the hosts on the break, with a sweeping Pablo Durán cross misjudged by the onrushing Wojciech Szczesny and tapped into the open net by Borja Iglesias.
Barça’s response wasn’t all that convincing, and they hardly deserved to go into the break on level terms. The final ball was repeatedly wayward, with efforts from Lewandowski and Raphinha not much better, while Celta had chances of their own, including when Ilaix Moriba and Iker Losada called Szczesny into a double save.
Although Claudio Giraldez reshuffled things for the restart, the visitors looked no less dangerous and remarkably took the lead.
Frenkie de Jong failed to cut out Yoel Lago’s long ball, allowing Iglesias to race away and fire an unstoppable shot into the bottom-left corner.
Szczesny initially did well to stop Iglesias from converting a third soon after, but his defence then opened up again, and this time, the former Betis man raced away and flicked past the Polish stopper for his hat-trick.
However, the division’s top scorers are never too far away from the goals, and they quickly hit two back to restore parity. Raphinha first slipped through Dani Olmo to finish across goal, shortly before the Brazilian took to the air to head in Lamine Yamal’s cross.
Chances came and went at both ends, but fans had to wait until the final minute of stoppage time to see a dramatic winner. Lago took down Olmo in the area, and following a VAR review, Raphinha stepped up to beat Vicente Guaita from 12 yards.
It’s not often that a player scores three and ends up on the losing side, but Iglesias did just that as his side were unable to hang on. Barcelona thus keep their distance from Real Madrid ahead of a tricky run-in, including May’s LaLiga El Clasico, while Celta must return to winning ways if they are to earn a first European berth since the 2016/17 season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo)