Celta leaves Real Madrid touched

Real Madrid lost (0-2) this Sunday against RC Celta on a fateful night for the whites at the Santiago Bernabéu, first defeat at home, a dangerous injury to Eder Militao, expulsions of Fran García and Álvaro Carreras, plus another one for Endrick who was on the bench in a tense outcome, already four points behind the leader FC Barcelona after matchday 15 of LaLiga EA Sports.

Xabi Alonso’s men had to listen to the whistles of their fans and stay one less, due to two yellow cards from Fran García in two minutes, to gain some pride. There was still about half an hour left, with the score at 0-1 against Williot Swedberg with a backheel at the beginning of the second half, but Madrid could not find a comeback.

At times and despite having one more player, Celta had to bail, with the chances of Kylian Mbappé and the revulsive Gonzalo, to passes from Aurélien Tchouaméni who became head of operations. However, Madrid, which had reacted somewhat and had its chances, but with little brilliance or rhythm, especially in the first half, suffered another expulsion and 0-2 in stoppage time.

The Galician team began playing against a Madrid that did not convince at the start. However, a header from Jude Bellingham was miraculously saved by Ionut Radu after a quarter of an hour. Then Militao’s injury came, running to avoid a one-on-one between Pablo Durán and Thibaut Courtois. The night was beginning to cloud over for a Madrid stuck in Celta’s good low block.

Xabi Alonso’s men tried shots from distance with little faith, but the problem was the lack of mobility up front and the lack of space. Vinícius was encouraged in the one-on-one and Arda Güler forgave another very clear one, but Claudio Giráldez’s men responded with a great ball delivery that Durán did not take advantage of before the break.

The good withdrawal of the visitors prevented ‘Vini’, who did catch one at the end of the first half, or Mbappé with hand problems due to a blow, from having room to run. Celta’s tangle forced Madrid to go one more pace, which came after the restart, with a missile from Fede Valverde and more possession. However, the permissiveness behind at 0-1 was what angered the Bernabéu. Bryan Zaragoza’s center was finished off by Williot’s heel, nice but very easy for the Galicians.

Alonso put Rodrygo on and was burning cartridges with the frustration of seeing Fran García commit two yellow fouls in two minutes. Vinícius tried to turn the whistles that were already heard into pressure for Celta and at times, the Bernabéu seemed to be preparing for one of those nights. Mbappé then forgave his one-on-one and Celta, who did not know how to play with one more, swallowed saliva with Gonzalo’s header.

Then, Quintero González handed out yellow cards and Carreras got another instant red card for protesting, with Madrid nine and crazy, and another expulsion for Endrick, who was on the bench. With the whites touched, Giráldez’s men, who gained a lot of faith for their irregular season, killed the match with Iago Aspas, who had just entered, and the double from a buoyant Williot.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: REAL MADRID, 0 – RC CELTA, 2. (0-0, at halftime).

–ALIGNMENTS:

Real Madrid: courtois; Asencio (Rodrygo, min.54), military (rüdiger, min.24), cararies, Fran Garcia; Tchoameni, Güenzalo (Conflelo, min.74), Bellingham; Valverde, viniicus and Mbapé.

RC CELTA: Radu; Javi Rodríguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Mingueza (Jutglà, min.71), Moriba, Miguel Román (Beltrán, min.84), Carreira: Pablo Durán (Williot, break), Bryan Zaragoza (Rueda, min.71) and Borja Iglesias (Aspas, min.88).

–GOALS:

0 – 1, min.54, Williot.

0 – 2, min.93, Williot.

–REFEREE: Quintero González (C.Andaluz). He cautioned Bellingham (min.62), Fran García (min.63), Carreras (min.91), Rodrygo (min.92) and Valverde (min.92) for Madrid. And Moriba (min.83) at Celta. He sent off Fran García (min.65) and Carreras (min.92) for a second yellow card, and Endrick for a straight red card (min.92).

–STADIUM: Santiago Bernabéu. 74,511 spectators