Celta misses chance to join Barcelona atop Spanish league

MADRID — Celta Vigo relinquished a two-goal lead in a disappointing 3-3 home draw against 10-man Las Palmas on Sunday (Monday Manila time), missing a chance to join Barcelona atop the Spanish league.

Chilean playmaker Fabian Orellana scored a goal and set up the other two for the Galicia region team, but Las Palmas rallied with two unanswered goals to equalize the game despite playing a man down from the 11th minute.

Basque club Eibar also had a chance to win its third in a row and match Barcelona, but it couldn’t manage more than a 0-0 draw at Malaga.

After three rounds, Barcelona leads with nine points and Real Madrid is second with seven points, along with Celta, Villarreal and Eibar. Atletico Madrid is next with six points.

Barcelona remained perfect after coming from behind for a 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid on Saturday with second-half goals by Neymar and Lionel Messi.

Real Madrid trounced Espanyol 6-0 with five goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, who became Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer in the league with 231 goals.

Celta entered the weekend with the championship’s early lead on goal difference, and looked set to stay on top until a disastrous second half against newcomer Las Palmas.

“We leave with a bad taste in our mouth after losing two points in a match that we had under control,” said Celta’s Argentine midfielder Augusto Fernandez.

Orellana opened the scoring for the hosts by converting a 13th-minute penalty kick that prompted Las Palmas goalkeeper Javi Varas to be sent off with a straight red card for fouling striker Iago Aspas inside the area. Orellana also set up a goal by defensive midfielder Daniel Wass in the 18th and another by midfielder Manuel Nolito in the 48th.

Striker Araujo netted for Las Palmas in the 23rd and 61st, and David Simon scored the equalizer in the 74th to frustrate the nearly 20,000 Celta fans at the Estadio de Balaidos in Vigo.

Eibar, only in its second season in the first division, also wasn’t able to capitalize on its scoring opportunities at the La Rosaleda stadium in Malaga. Eibar’s main goal entering the season was to remain in the top flight and players acknowledged it was only a matter of time before it dropped from the top of the standings.

In other results Sunday, fourth-place Villarreal earned a 3-1 win over Granada, while Athletic Bilbao defeated Getafe 3-1 at home behind two goals by Aritz Aduriz, picking up its first win of the season.