MADRID, Dec. 2 -- FC Barcelona dropped their first two points of the season in front of their fans when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Celta Vigo on Saturday lunchtime.
Coached by former Barcelona assistant coach, Juan Carlos Unzue, Celta played an excellent tactical game and led by Iago Aspas, who scored their first goal and set Maxi Gomez up for the second, they were a constant threat on the counter-attack.
The game got off to a dreadful start for the visitors who lost Sergi Gomez with a shoulder injury within the first 60 seconds after he had been pulled over by Luis Suarez.
Unzue set his side up to rotate their tactics, both pressing Barca high up the field and then dropping deep to not allow Barca space between lines, while all the time looking to hurt Barca on the break.
Aspas opened the scoring in the 20th minute when he broke the offside trap and fed the ball to Gomez. Although Ter Stegen made a brilliant save, the ball fell kindly for Aspas to push into an empty net.
Celta's joy lasted just two minutes before Leo Messi scored his 13th goal of the campaign with a low shot following a Paulinho pass.
Suarez then saw a goal wrongly ruled out for offside, before Messi hit the outside of the post.
Barca finally got in front in the 62nd minute when Suarez side-footed home following a rapid exchange of passes between Messi and Jordi Alba, but Celta refused to lie down and seven minutes later they were level when Aspas set up Maxi following another break with 20 minutes left in the game.
The goal was a double blow for Barca as Samuel Umtiti pulled a hamstring trying to chase the Celta striker down and will presumably be out of action until the New Year.
Pique hit the post for Barca in a frantic finish to the game, but the league leaders had Ter Stegen to thank for a late save to deny Pione Sisto a late winner for Celta.