According to reports, it has not yet been four full years—this incident will complete on May 16—but what happened in the 37th week of the 2020-21 season at Camp Nou seems much further away, almost like science fiction. Celta Vigo’s last away victory against Barcelona was historic, as the team had only won twice in La Liga at Barça’s home before. However, when the referee blew the final whistle, no one knew this match would be remembered for another reason. That game was Lionel Messi’s last appearance for the Catalan club.

Celta, under the guidance of Eduardo Coudet, arrived at Camp Nou in high spirits and secured their fifth consecutive victory. This happened in the penultimate week of La Liga, the last week played entirely without spectators due to COVID-19, against a team that still had a chance to win the title. Barcelona lost, and in this match, where they initially led 1-0 with a Messi goal, they said goodbye to the championship. Santi Mina turned the result in Celta’s favor with two goals. Two scorers whose current situation bears no resemblance to that day.

The hero of Celta’s 2-1 victory has not played football for nearly two years. In May 2022, a provincial court in Almería sentenced this striker to four years in prison on charges of sexual assault, a ruling confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia in the summer of 2023, after which Celta terminated his contract. Mina is now awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on his appeal.

Interestingly, the strange aspects of that match are not limited to Mina and Messi. In Barcelona’s midfield, Ilaix Moriba was a starter, someone who will likely feature for Celta in Montjuïc. Another current Celta midfielder, Hugo Sotelo, made his La Liga debut in that match at the age of 17. In the current team under Claudio Giráldez, there are four other players who played a role in the last victory at Camp Nou: Iván Villar, Fran Beltrán, Iago Aspas, and Carlos Domínguez. Since then, Celta has traveled to Barcelona three more times and lost all three.