Jules Kounde must hang his head in shame as Barcelona throw away win at Celta

With 10 minutes left of the game against Celta Vigo at Balaidos, Barcelona were 2-0 up and cruising.

Sure, they’d ridden their luck for long periods but a win at one of their major bogey grounds (along with Anoeta/Reale Arena) would’ve been a hugely valuable three points.

As it turned out, Marc Casado’s sending off eight minutes from time was a turning point because just four minutes later the Galicians were level.

Allowed back in the game because Jules Kounde committed the cardinal sin of not hoofing the ball into Row Z if he was unsure where to play it.

Instead, his pathetic effort at a clearance fell invitingly for Alfonso Gonzalez who made no mistake.

With the bit between their teeth and their tails up, there was only going to be one team that would score again before the final whistle.

Sure enough, just two minutes later Hugo Alvarez bagged a fine equaliser, sending Hector Fort to the shops in so doing.

It was another timely wake up call for Hansi Flick and Barcelona on a night when the focus was initially on the frankly awful Gerard Martin, who was only in the starting XI due to the absence of Alejandro Balde on the left side of defence.

That the pendulum had swung to the right side of the back line before full-time will give Flick food for thought.

Kounde had recently said on a podcast that “I would be lying if I said that I like football as much as before. Before it was my career, now it’s my job.”

A job that he failed to carry out anywhere close to adequately - and it isn’t the first time this season either.

When the Frenchman is in the mood there’s no finer full-back in the league, but if he’s having an off day, goodness me, it can be painful to watch. Yet it’s entirely fair to say that most of his team-mates couldn’t string any patterns of play together for the most part against Celta either.

At 2-0 up, Barca really should’ve shown some professionalism and seen out the last 10-15 minutes with ease.

Consistently seeing their offside trap beaten too, at times it seemed that only Inaki Pena was holding back the tsunami of chances being created by the home side.

The keeper and Raphinha can certainly be absolved of any responsibility for such a lacklustre, poorly executed and downright awful 90 minutes.

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