Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde seemed worried in the aftermath of the Blaugrana’s 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo on Saturday afternoon with two of his players nursing injuries. 

The hosts went close to winning several times, but always missed that final touch that would have given them the lead and three points for the table. 

The Blaugrana are now only five points ahead of followers Valencia, who could be narrowing the gap this weekend and make the title race harder for them. 

Iago Aspas opened the scoring for the visitors, but was quickly evened by Lionel Messi, who shot a magnificent stroke from ten yards. In the second half, Luis Suarez gave Barcelona a temporary lead as Maxi Gomez made it all square at Camp Nou ten minutes later. 

Blaugrana key man Samuel Umtiti got injured seconds before Celta’s equaliser, and is expected to be out for two months, as Valverde pointed his impossibility to play as the reason why Barcelona suffered the second goal.

He told to beIN Sports cameras (via ?AS): “It was a hotly contested match, they started well and we struggled to get into the game, we conceded a goal but when we finally got into the game we dominated. 

“We came back and then came the unfortunate situation of Celta’s goal, which happened at the same time as Umtiti’s injury. We were able to score, but we did not manage to do it.”

Valverde continued: “When we were leading 2-1 we could have scored the third. Then both Umtiti’s injury and the equalizer came in. We added up to four chances, but we did not get it”.

He further stressed that the player’s absence in the final moments of the game was absolutely crucial: “It was a cluster of misfortunes. The match virtually depended on Umtiti’s injury. There are many things that have happened to us this year, but we must continue.

“We are Barça and we want to win always. Sometimes it is not possible to add three in three. It already happened to us in Valencia. These are things from long competitions. “

The maestro Andres Iniesta was substituted early during the game, sparking even further worries for the manager, who, however, was only able to say: “He asked me for the change, I hope it’s not important.”