After two defeats in a row, Real Madrid happily won 2-1 against Celta Vigo. The Royals do not lose sight of Barcelona in the title fight after the victory.
After Real took the lead through Aurélien Tchouaméni (11th minute), Borja Iglesias equalized (25th). Alvaro Arbeloa’s team had to wait until added time for Federico Valverde’s winning goal (90. +4).
While the Spanish press is already busy discussing Alvaro Arbeloa’s successor in the Real Madrid dugout, everything is still at stake for him and his team in the league. After two defeats in a row, the win against Celta Vigo was urgently needed to stay in touch with league leaders Barcelona.
But the Galicians were anything but a grateful opponent. After all, the Sky Blues are playing in the league for a place in the Europa League – and the club president publicly dreams of reaching the final of this competition this year.
Real takes the lead after a corner
If the Madrilenians’ weakened defense had forgotten that, they were taught otherwise in the fifth minute. Borja Iglesias, former Leverkusen player and Celtic’s top scorer, forced Thibaut Courtois into a brilliant save from 20 meters.
But the Royals didn’t have to wait long either: in the tenth minute, Vinicius Junior broke through and only hit the inside post. Aurélien Tchouaméni did better two minutes later. After a short corner, he received the ball free-standing on the edge of the penalty area from Arda Güler. His unchallenged shot landed over the inside post and into the goal.
TAA defends passively and Iglesias takes advantage of that
But anyone who expected Real to manage the game safely and was expecting a quiet evening was wrong. Celta stayed in the game and repeatedly showed pleasing combinations. This was also the case in the 25th minute, when Williot Swedberg was sent deep with a long ball on the left side, dribbled to the baseline and served Iglesias with a back pass, who equalized. Trent Alexander Arnold’s passive defensive behavior against Jugtla may have particularly angered former right-back Arbeloa.
Lots of crosses, lots of duels
After the half-time break the game lost pace. Both teams realized that the opponent’s crosses were relatively harmless, so they retreated far back and waited for high balls into the penalty area, which they were then able to defend with relative ease. The fact that it didn’t get boring was thanks to the referee Jesús Gil Manzano, who caused a lot of excitement on both sides with his very funny line during duels. The 67th minute passed before one of the two goalkeepers had to intervene for the first time: Celta’s goalkeeper Ionut Radu caught César Palacios’ shot.
No penalty for Real
Shortly afterwards, Manzano caused the next excitement. Celta’s striker Ferran Jugtla unnecessarily cleared a corner in his own penalty area with his hand, but the referee, after studying the video in detail, did not award a penalty because he considered a slight push by Tchouaméni against Jugtla as a foul. That didn’t fit with his otherwise relaxed line.
Although Real continued to dominate possession afterwards, Arbeloa’s team was not creative enough to break up the hosts’ deep defense. The best chance of the final phase went to Celta’s substitute club legend Iago Aspas, who suddenly got the ball in the penalty area, sent Raúl Asencio with a feint in the wrong direction, but only hit the inside post.
Valverde has the last word
Real had to wait until the fourth minute of stoppage time for the winning goal. After a few attempts to clear the ball from Vigo, the captain finished from around 20 meters. His powerful shot would probably have gone wide if Marcos Alonso hadn’t deflected the ball unstoppably. With the win, Real narrowed the gap to Barcelona to one point. Coach Hansi Flick’s team will play against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. Real host Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.
