Real Madrid lost the match played in the 15th round of LaLiga, at the “Santiago Bernabeu”, in the company of Celta Vigo, final score 0-1, in a duel in which the only goal was scored in the second act by a footballer who came in along the way, Williot Swedberg. The goalkeeper of the Galician team, Ionuț Radu, rose to a high level through the saving interventions he displayed, and Fran Garcia, on the other side, “stood out” by receiving two yellow cards in one minute. This victory obtained by the band from “Balaidos” in the “home” of “los blancos” was the first since 2006.
Real Madrid returned to the “Santiago Bernabeu” after more than a month to play a game in the company of Celta Vigo that counted for the 15th round of LaLiga. In their last appearance in their own arena, the “galactics” had a “training” with Valencia, because the hosts would win with a final score of 4-0, and since then and until the meeting point of the band from Galicia, the team from the Spanish capital has registered one defeat, three draws and two other away victories. Most recently, in the domestic championship, Real Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao by a score of no show, at “San Mames” in a match in which Kylian Mbappe scored twice and provided another decisive pass.
On the other hand, the club trained on the sidelines by Claudio Giraldez lost to Espanyol in the last round of LaLiga, with a goal difference and was, before the match that took place at the “Santiago Bernabeu” in 13th place in the general hierarchy with a total of 16 points obtained. “Los Blancos” were in second place in the current ranking, with 36 points accumulated up to this stage of the season, four lengths behind the leader in Catalonia, FC Barcelona. Xabi Alonso could not rely on the services of players such as David Alaba, Daniel Carvajal, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen and Ferland Mendy at the time of this confrontation, unlike the two absences from the guest camp, Mihailo Ristic and Joseph Aidoo.
In the most recent 22 head-to-head matches between the two teams, Real Madrid had managed to prevail on 20 occasions, with two other matches ending in a draw. In fact, Celta Vigo had not won in the Spanish championship at the “Galacticos” arena since 2006, and, in all competitions, the Galicians had not prevailed at the “Santiago Bernabeu” since 2017, when they managed to eliminate the “los blancos” team in the quarter-finals of the “Copa del Rey”. Iago Aspas marked his 400th match in LaLiga, during which he reached 235 decisive contributions, an absolute record for a Spanish player in this century.
Kylian Mbappe has reached his 50th La Liga appearance since signing for Real Madrid, scoring 47 goals, and the French star is looking to continue his bid to break Cristiano Ronaldo’s record. More specifically, in 2013, in a calendar year, the Portuguese player scored 59 goals, and the Hexagon player had scored, before the duel against Celta Vigo, 55 times, having four matches available until the end of December to surpass the performance of the former “Galacticos” striker.
The first attempt to score in this match belonged to the Vigo team, when Bryan Zaragoza’s through ball found Pablo Duran in open space, but the visitors’ player was blocked in time by Eder Militao, and Real Madrid’s opponents benefited from a corner kick. Then, Arda Guler tried to surprise the opposing defense and easily overtook Marcos Alonso, but Ionuț Radu came out in time between the posts and blocked the shot of the Turkish player from Real Madrid. From the resulting corner kick, a ball sent by the same Arda Guler was headed by Jude Bellingham, but the Romanian goalkeeper had a sensational reflex and opposed the opening of the score.
Eder Militao was seriously injured in the 23rd minute of the game, when the Brazilian central defender was in a direct duel for the ball, at full speed, with Pablo Duran, and, due to a muscle tear, Antonio Rudiger took the place of the South American stopper. Ionuț Radu was also on the post in the 24th minute, when, at the end of a positional attack, from the last 25 meters, Arda Guler decided to shoot, and although the ball hit the turf, the Celta Vigo goalkeeper intervened promptly and kept his team in the game.
The same Turkish player was at the finish a few moments later, when Vinicius Junior had the ball at his feet in the opponent’s penalty area, passed to Kylian Mbappe, and the Hexagon star extended it for Arda Guler. However, the Real Madrid midfielder’s dribbling shot narrowly missed the Galician club’s goal. The most important goal-scoring opportunity in the first half of the game arrived at the “Galacticos” goal, with Borja Iglesias being at the origin of the dangerous phase, thanks to the pass on the corridor he offered to Pablo Duran. However, in front of the goal, the Celta Vigo offensive player took aim at Thibaut Courtois and failed to unblock the scoreboard.
The Romanian goalkeeper blocked Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe twice in the extra minutes of the first half. The Brazilian player was excellently launched into the opponent’s box by Aurelien Tchouameni, but his footwork was rejected by Ionuț Radu, so that the visitors’ goalkeeper caught the ball in front of the Hexagon striker. The second half started positively for the team from the “Santiago Bernabeu”, and after receiving a ball approximately 30 meters away from the opponent’s goal, Federico Valverde shot from a volley, but the goalkeeper of the team coached by Claudio Giraldez caught the ball in two steps.
The opening of the score came in the home team’s goal, when, after a pass on the left flank sent by Ilaix Moriba, Bryan Zaragoza dribbled inside, and the cross launched by the Celta Vigo player was acrobatically hit by Wiliot Swedberg, without the Belgian goalkeeper of Real Madrid being able to intervene. Federico Valverde tried his luck in the 56th minute of the match, when he decided to shoot from a long distance, but his volley went just wide of the Galician goal. In less than two minutes, Fran Garcia saw two yellow cards, as a result of two harsh fouls he committed on the visiting players, and the left-back was sent to the locker room early.
Vinicius Junior, from the pass received from Jude Bellingham, tried to finish with a shot sent down to the far corner, but the execution of the South American player did not find the space of the goal of the team led from the side by Claudio Giraldez. Kylian Mbappe missed the equalizer in the 74th minute of the match, when, receiving a ball over the Celta Vigo defense, he tried to lob Ionuț Radu, but the ball fell into the net of the team from ”Balaidos”. The French star of the home team’s attack could not beat the Romanian goalkeeper of Celta Vigo even from a free kick that was executed from the edge of the box.
In the last minutes, the game was heated, because the referee showed two yellow cards in less than 10 seconds for Alvaro Carreras, all the ”los blancos” players being protesting. After this event happened, Celta Vigo managed to score the second goal, when Williot Swedberg went pass Thibaut Courtois and introduce the ball into net from few meters, giving the chance to the supporters to enjoy this victory at the ”Santiago Bernabeu”.
Real Madrid, as a result of the failure suffered at home, remained in second place in the general standings, with a total of 36 points, while Celta Vigo climbed to 10th place in the hierarchy, accumulating 19 points. In the next round, “los blancos” will duel with Deportivo Alaves, away, and the Galician team will receive the visit of Athletic Bilbao, not before the formation from the Spanish capital will evolve against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League, and the students trained by Claudio Giraldez “will face off” with Bologna, in the UEFA Europa League.