Rival watch: Celta Vigo climb out of drop zone as FC Barcelona close gap on Real Madrid

Upcoming league opponents Celta Vigo were in Barcelona on Sunday night to face RCD Espanyol, where they grabbed two late goals to seal a win that moves them out of the bottom three.

In what had been a dull affair at Cornella, with very few clear chances for either side, Giuseppe Rossi seized a rare opportunity that came his way to smartly finish beyond Diego Lopez in the 90th minute. Then, deep into injury time, young Pione Sisto carried the ball from deep within his own half all the way to the other end before tucking it away for 2-0.

Group C rivals all win 

Borussia Mönchengladbach are in fine tune going into their Champions League game at home to Barça after winning 2-0 on Saturday against Ingolstadt to move up to fourth in the Bundesliga table. Stindl punced on a rebound to put his side ahead shortly before the break and Oscar Wendt added a second after 76 minutes.

As for Barça’s other group rivals, Manchester City continued their 100 per cent record with a 3-1 win at Swansea, the same club they beat in the EPL Cup midweek. Kun Agüero continued his excellent form with a brace of goals, ‘Panenka’ style penalty included, while Sterling finished off a counter attack to secure a sky blue triumph on 77 minutes.

North of the border, Celtic cruised to a 6-1 win over Kilmarnock to stay top of the Scottish Premiership. Dembele (2), Forrest, Griffiths, Sinclair and Rogic (min 85) were on target and the win leaves the Hoops ten points clear of second placed Hearts with a game in hand.

Point off the top

In La Liga, Barça’s 5-0 win at Sporting closes the gap at the top of the table to just a single point after Real Madrid drew for the second game in a row, this time away to Las Palmas. Arsensio and Benzema twice put the all-whites ahead in the Canary Islands, but the home side found an answer both times and hang on to fifth place in the table.

Barça also benefitted from Athletic Bilbao’s 3-1 defeat of Sevilla, who have dropped from second to fourth as a result while it is now the Basques who are third, just one point behind Barça.