Barcelona defeated Celta Vigo 3-1 in Tuesday’s La Liga outing with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netting a brace.
Having failed to score in his last three league outings, the Gabon international rediscovered his scoring form to seal victory for Xavi Hernandez’s men.
The visitors had the chance to take the lead, but Iago Aspas could not find the net after profiting from a shabby Ronald Araujo back pass.
Barca also had a couple of opportunities to take the lead, however, they were unlucky in front of goal.
Nevertheless, they took the lead at the half-hour mark after Memphis Depay fired past goalkeeper Matias Dituro.
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Ousmane Dembele nutmegged an opponent and skipped past another before setting up the Netherlands international who made no mistake in front of goal.
Four minutes before the half-time break, the Blaugrana doubled their advantage courtesy of Aubameyang.
With just three minutes into the second half, the former Arsenal captain completed his brace thanks to the last pass from Dembele.
Since February 1, 2022, the African striker has surpassed Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (9) as La Liga's top scorer in this period.
Not willing to go down without a fight, Celta Vigo got a goal back in the 50th minute as Aspas drilled Thiago Galhardo’s assist beyond goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Eight minutes later, Eduardo Coudet’s men got reduced to 10 men after substitute Jeison Murillo was given his marching orders for denying Depay an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
After featuring for 84 minutes, Aubameyang was subbed off for Luuk De Jong.
On the other side, Ghana international Joseph Aidoo was on parade from start to finish for Celta Vigo.
The result keeps the Catalans second on the log after accruing 72 points from 36 matches.
Even with the result, manager Xavi is far from pleased with how his team performed.
“Honestly it was not a good game, we didn’t play well. After the red card we played well, we had passion, but 11 vs 11 we suffered,” he told the media.
“It’s a very important win, especially when you don’t play well. At least we competed. We need to keep going, this is not the way but at least we won.”