Barcelona 2-0 Celta Vigo: Messi & Dembele score as Alba shines
Barça end the league with a three-point lead at the top of La Liga
Barcelona closed 2018 with another three points thanks to first half goals from Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi as they beat Celta Vigo 2-0 at Camp Nou.
FCB
2 ________________ 0
CEL
LINE UP
Barça
Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Busquets (Aleñá, 86'), Arturo Vidal (Arthur, 62'), Rakitic; Messi, Luis Suárez y Dembélé (Coutinho, 62')
Celta
Rubén; Hugo Mallo, Araujo, David Costas, Mazan; Okay (Lobotka, 46'), Jozabed; Brais, Iago Aspas (Fran Beltrán, 52'), Boufal (Pione Sisto, 75'); y Maxi Gómez.
Goles
1-0 M.10 Dembélé; 2-0 M.45 Messi.
Árbitro
Prieto Iglesias (Navarro). TA: Aspas (44').
Incidencias
Partido de la jornada 17 de LaLiga Santander disputado en el Camp Nou ante 78.686 espectadores.
Dembele opened the scoring early on, rifling home from close range after Ruben Blanco had saved from Messi.
Messi then added the second just before the break. The Argentine never looked like missing after being put through by a fine Jordi Alba pass.
Ernesto Valverde picked the same team which beat Espanyol two weeks ago, with Arturo Vidal and Dembele once again preferred over Arthur Melo and Philippe Coutinho.
Barca produced a dazzling first half, with Dembele, Messi and Alba particularly impressive.
A two-goal half time lead was the least they deserved, although Celta occasionally had their moments, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen saving from Maxi Gomez.
The Catalans eased up after the break but still could have added to their tally against a Celta side who lose their talisman, Iago Aspas, to injury in the 52nds minute.
The brilliant Alba sent Luis Suarez through for the first chance, but the Uruguayan drilled wide when he would usually have scored.
A combination of Ter Stegen and Nelson Semedo somehow stopped a goalmouth scramble ending with a Celta goal but Barca were never really under siege.
Semedo and Messi nearly combined for a third Barca goal and Messi sent a late free-kick just over as the Blaugrana closed out a 2-0 win.
They end the year three points clear at the top of La Liga.
