Celta Vigo 1-2 Real Madrid
The pressure was on for Real Madrid to avoid a third straight defeat in La Liga for the first time since 2008, knowing that anything other than a win would place Barcelona in firm control of the title race. It would be no exaggeration to say that the trip to Balaidos was somewhat daunting though, against an in-form Celta Vigo, who had won comfortably at the Bernabeu.
Starting off in a frantic fashion that mirrored the atmosphere, Borja Iglesias forced a strong early save after four minutes. Minutes later, Vinicius Junior snuck in behind the opposition defences in the opening 10 minutes, the Brazilian desperately unlucky to see his effort roll along the line after coming off the inside of the post. Smelling blood though, Real Madrid upped the tempo, and after Aurelien Tchouameni forced a good save from Ionut Radu down to his left, from the resulting corner, he beat him down to the left – this time in off the post from the edge of the box.
After the opening goal, the game settled into a more calm rhythm, but it felt deliberate from Celta rather than Real Madrid. Finding space in the midfield, they were able to launch their front three in behind, and Borja Iglesias was thwarted by Thibaut Courtois after 20 minutes. Ten minutes later, it was Williot Swedberg who got behind Trent Alexander-Arnold. Working space, he found Iglesias running onto the ball on the penalty spot, who fired under Courtois.
Now on level terms, Celta began to look the more confident of the two sides, with Real Madrid losing their grip on the game. The culmination of that occurred on the stroke of half-time, when Ferran Jutgla picked out Swedberg from the right, but his unmarked effort was halted brilliantly by Courtois.
Real Madrid pressure without pay-off
A more cautious game greeted the second period, with both sides keen not to put themselves in trouble unnecessarily. Celta were putting the more intricate moves together, but neither side was getting in on goal. As the hour ticked by though, Real Madrid began to slowly constrict Celta in their own half. What they lacked in clear chances, they made up for in territory, keeping the squeeze on their opponents, who had found time on the ball relatively easy until that point.
If Celta had little reason to believe it would be them that broke the deadlock, Claudio Giraldez sent Iago Aspas on with 10 minutes remaining knowing that he had the extra quality to make use of it. With three minutes remaining, Celta finally escaped the Real Madrid pressure, with Hugo Alvarez running at the defence. Cutting it back to Aspas, he made space on his left, angling a shot around Asencio and off the post.
Los Blancos looked as if their title challenge was set to drift further from them, but just as Celta began to venture out of their shell, Real Madrid hit them with a sucker punch. Substitute Manuel Angel won the ball back just about fairly in the Celta half, and it was worked right to Alexander-Arnold. After his cross was cleared only to the edge of the box, Fede Valverde came screaming onto the ball, and the deflection did the rest.
A glorious three points for Alvaro Arbeloa in the circumstances, Real Madrid cut the gap to Barcelona to just a point, with a goal that will lift morale too. After a concerning opening period, Real Madrid dominated in the second, putting in a tight and mechanical press on Celta. The only thing missing was a clear sight at goal, and even if they didn’t get it, the victory will more than suffice for the time being.
Celta remain 6th with a four-point advantage over Espanyol, but will feel enormously short-changed from their effort. Even if it was a battle just to keep the match on an even keel in the second period, Giraldez can justifiably claim his side repelled everything Real Madrid threw at them – until that last cross.
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