Real Madrid wins ‘in extremis’ and on the rebound in Vigo

Real Madrid won this Friday 1-2 on their visit to RC Celta de Vigo in the first match of matchday 27 in LaLiga EA Sports, thanks to a lucky goal from Fede Valverde in injury time, giving the Madrid team a breath of fresh air just a few days before hosting Manchester City in the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League.

At the Abanca Balaídos, it didn’t take long for the locals to get closer to the Madrid goal with a volley from Borja Iglesias that was sent into the clouds. The ‘Panda’ tried again when the 5th minute had passed, and bothered Thibaut Courtois much more with a low left foot shot from the edge of the area and which the Belgian goalkeeper successfully deflected into a corner kick.

The visitor’s response came in the 10th minute with a similar play, as Aurélien Tchouaméni hit another low left-footed shot from the balcony of the area and went just past the post. Almost immediately, Tchouaméni found reward for his offensive involvement by scoring 0-1; It was a corner that Trent Alexander-Arnold took short and that Arda Güler controlled and assisted the goal.

The number 14 of the whites received that low pass and fired a right cross that, after passing over Brahim Díaz’s head, hit the post and entered Ionut Radu’s goal. Despite the early setback, Celta reacted well and equalized the score in the 25th minute after a long pass to Williot Swedberg, who beat Alexander-Arnold.

Swedberg lined up on the left wing, stepped into the rival area and crossed low for Iglesias to finish hard in mid-run, having slipped through the Real Madrid defense with apparent ease. Although Álvaro Arbeloa’s men dominated the ball, the Vigo team created danger in the 40th minute with Ferran Jutglà and especially in the 45th minute with the lively Swedberg.

Courtois appeared as a savior to avoid a 2-1 lead and the break tempered both teams, who defended themselves better in the second half. The match came out of its lethargy in the 72nd minute, when Jutglà cleared the ball with his arm in a corner and the VAR notified the field referee; Díaz de Mera Escuderos reviewed it and in the end whistled a previous push that Ilaix Moriba had received.

The substitutions suited the merengue team well, but they generated danger without concreteness. Of course, in the 87th minute he had a huge scare when Iago Aspas, having just entered the field, received the ball inside the area until he cut back Raúl Asencio and sent a low left foot shot to the post.

Already in added time, and after a robbery by youth player Manuel Ángel Morán from Fer López with controversy due to his harshness, those from Arbeloa found loot with the 1-2; The action continued, the visitors moved their attack from side to side and Valverde caught a loose ball to make a powerful right hand.

That shot by the Uruguayan footballer, the trademark of the house, tripped on Marcos Alonso’s elbow and changed the trajectory of the ball completely, thus beating a Radu who had stretched to the opposite side. Without any scares in the remainder of the discount, Real Madrid secured the victory and thanks to this they stood with 63 points in the table; Meanwhile, Celta has 40 points.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: RC CELTA, 1 – REAL MADRID, 2 (1-1, at half-time).

–ALIGNMENTS:

RC CELTA: Radu; Carreira, Javi Rodriguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso, Mingueza (Aspas, min.83); Román, Moriba (Neighbour, min.90+1); Jutglà (Álvarez, min.70), Swedberg (Fer López, min.70) and Borja Iglesias (El Abdellaoui, min.70).

REAL MADRID: Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Asencio, Rüdiger, Mendy; Valverde, Tchouaméni, Güler (Palacios, min.65), Pitarch (Manuel Ángel Morán, min.90); Brahim Díaz (Gonzalo, min.77) and Vinícius.

–GOALS:

0-1, 11 min.: Tchouaméni.

1-1, min.25: Borja Iglesias.

1-2, min.90+4: Valverde.

–REFEREE: Díaz de Mera Escuderos (C. Castellano-La Mancha). He gave a yellow card to Borja Iglesias (min.31) for RC Celta, and to Tchouaméni (min.86) and Asencio (min.90) for Real Madrid.

–STADIUM: Abanca Balaídos, 22,048 spectators.