With a goal in the final moments, Real Madrid remains alive, going to bed just one point behind the leader, waiting for what will happen in the match that Barcelona will play this Saturday in Bilbao. The two teams came into this challenge in quite different situations; Celta had accumulated four consecutive victories, while Real had lost their last two matches against mid-table La Liga teams, namely Osasuna and Getafe. Additionally, Arbeloa was deprived of no less than ten players, including the suspended Carreras, Huijsen, and Mastantuono, as well as the injured Mbappé, Bellingham, Militão, Rodrygo, Ceballos, Alaba, and Camavinga, a true plague that forced the coach to improvise a lineup and include several young players from the second team, Castilla. Despite all these limitations, Real Madrid started the match quite well, taking the initiative, seizing possession of the ball, and pushing Celta back into their own area, creating serious problems for their defense. Vinícius hit the crossbar, and ten minutes in, the goal came from Tchouaméni, who, following a corner, took advantage of the local defense's inattentiveness to place a well-placed shot into the back of the net. With the lead, Real Madrid continued to dominate until, around the half-hour mark, the equalizer arrived. In a quick counterattack, Swedberg made his way down the left, got the better of the lackluster Trent, and crossed into the area where Borja Iglesias appeared to shoot accurately, leaving Courtois with no chance to prevent the goal. Real, who had shown a good version of themselves until then, was too affected by the goal, lost aggression in attack, and suffered against the enthusiasm and good football of the Galician team, who could have gone into halftime ahead if not for two huge saves from Courtois that kept the team in the game. Real Madrid started the second half similarly to the first; Vinícius, who had been unnoticed until halftime, began to take on a more prominent role and create dangerous situations that troubled the Galician defense, which did what it could to close the spaces through which the visiting attackers could enter. Half an hour in, VAR alerted the referee to a possible handball in the local area, but nothing came of it. Real continued to dominate and attacked desperately in search of the winning goal, while Celta seemed satisfied with the draw, without abandoning the possibility of surprising the visiting defense with a quick offensive response, which nearly happened in the final minutes. Iago Aspas, on his first touch after coming on, finished a good play with a shot that hit the crossbar of Courtois's goal. Finally, when the match was in the last minute of stoppage time, Valverde gave Real Madrid the victory: he received a good pass and from outside the area made a powerful shot, the ball deflected off a defender and ended up in the back of Celta's net. Real, who had to win to avoid losing ground in the title race, did not lose faith and, in the final moment, managed to avenge the defeat that Celta had inflicted on them at the Bernabéu in the first half of the season, a hard-fought victory for a team that, without putting on a great display, was the one that sought to win the match with the most determination.
Real Madrid Barcelona remains central to this story.
Real Madrid Barcelona remains central to this story.
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