VIGO, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 23: Iago Aspas of Celta Vigo is held back by coaching staff as he clashes with an assistant referee during the LaLiga match between RC Celta de Vigo and FC Barcelona at Estadio Balaidos on November 23, 2024 in Vigo, Spain.

Cameras catch the tense interaction between Celta star and Barcelona defender from the latest draw

Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images

Several FC Barcelona players were significantly below their expected level as the Blaugranes faced Celta Vigo in their last La Liga game on Saturday.

Jules Kounde was the one to blame the most for Catalan’s capitulation at the end of the match, as he gave away the ball inside the box, which led to Celta’s first goal.

However, before that mistake, Marc Casado had already been sent off, which had put Barcelona in a numerically inferior position, and without one of their key players.

Still, he was not the only Blaugrana player who was at risk of a red card, as Gerard Martin also came quite close to getting sent off for his actions in the first half.

Most spectators would have expected the defender to be sent off as he mistimed a tackle on the Celta Vigo star Iago Aspas. The veteran striker protested very strongly to this challenge from the Barcelona defender and Soto Grando not showing him another yellow card.

These protests continued for some time, but as SPORT has noted, another heated exchange took place between the Celta Vigo forward and Gerard Martin when the half-time whistle was blown by the referee.

With this whistle, Aspas approached Martin and addressed him with clear fury as he said: “You stepped on me. He saw it, and he’s going to sub you out”, referring to the fact that Flick was going to replace Martin with Hector Fort at half-time.

The defender tried to plead his innocence by saying “But it’s just a little foul”. But Aspas insisted “You stepped on me, you stepped on me”.

One can argue that the Celta star also deserved a yellow card for his repeated protests, but ultimately, neither of the two players was shown a red card by the referee. However, another Barcelona player, Marc Casado still got the red card later on in the game, allowing Celta to get a point from the match.

Tags Gerard Martin Iago Aspas