FC Barcelona

VIGO, Aug 28 (SW) - A goal two minutes from time by Eidur Gudjohnsen gave Barcelona a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Celta de Vigo in their opening La Liga match of the 2006/07 season.

Playing without star playmaker Ronaldinho, Barcelona struggled to break the Celta resistance in the first half, and the Galicians often looked dangerous themselves through Fernando Baiano.

The first big scoring chance of the game didn't come until the 31st minute, but it went to the Catalans as Lionel Messi drew two defenders before laying off to Deco, who forced a fantastic flying save out of José Pinto.

Celta then stunned the Spanish champions in the 42nd minute as they took the lead when Baiano pounced on a spill by Víctor Valdés as he could not handle a shot by Nené.

Shortly after the restart, though, Barcelona were level as Samuel Eto'o fired in a beautiful shot, and then Messi made it 2-1 to the visitors with a wonder goal as he controlled and hit a shot out of the reach of Pinto after completely fooling the Celta defenders.

Celta didn't get their spirits down and equalized through Gustavo López on 65 minutes, but were dealt a blow three minutes from time when Iriney picked up a second yellow card.

That set the stage for substitute Gudjohnsen to hit a brilliant volley after Deco's pass, allowing Barça to escape Balaídos with three points.