Real Madrid 0-2 Celta Vigo: Defeat at home opens up four-point gap from league leaders Barcelona
Before Celta Vigo’s visit to the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, Real Madrid had played their past six games on the road, while their home ground hosted an NFL game that required extensive changes to the stadium.
Some pundits then suggested that the constant travel could be responsible for their recent poor form (two wins in six). Their first match back at the Bernabeu did not provide any relief as things went from bad to worse as the night wore on.
Madrid finished the match with nine players and were punished twice by Williot Swedberg, who came off the bench to score two goals and heap pressure on Xabi Alonso. The loss leaves his side four points behind league leaders Barcelona and with only one win in their last five La Liga fixtures.
Madrid struggled for rhythm throughout the opening hour and when they came close they either lacked the finishing touch or were frustrated by Celta goalkeeper Ionut Radu. Jude Bellingham and Vinicius were denied in the first half before Valverde saw a shot from range saved in the second.
Kylian Mbappe lacked his usual level of precision and after Celta had threatened several times they finally went ahead eight minutes after the interval, when Bryan Zaragoza’s low delivery was met by Swedberg with a cheeky flick.
The game looked redeemable even after Fran Garcia had received two yellow cards in the space of a minute for late challenges, leaving Los Blancos a man down with more than 25 minutes still to play.
So far in his tenure, Alonso’s side have proved capable of snatching results with a man down, and Mbappe came close to levelling when he latched onto a long pass from Aurelien Tchouameni and went for the lob, but the ball went just over the bar.
Madrid had a few other moments that kept hopes of a late equaliser, but they were down another man in stoppage time after Alvaro Carreras lost his head and got sent off. Only a minute later, Celta capitalised to compound Madrid’s woes.
