JAKARTA - Real Madrid is back on the winning track after Federico Valverde's goal in the last minute defeated Celta Vigo 2-1 in a Spanish La Liga match at the Balaidos Stadium, Saturday, March 7, 2026 WIB. The victory made the competition for the league title back to heating up.
A dramatic victory. Madrid almost lost points after last week was humiliated by Getafe 1-0 at home. The defeat made Madrid fail to cut the points gap with the leader Barcelona.
When playing away against Celta, the team coached by Alvaro Arbeloa also faced pressure to win. If they fail again, the points gap will widen. Especially if Barca is able to beat host Athletic Bilbao, Sunday, March 8, 2026 early morning WIB.
Madrid did a good start and managed to take the lead in the early minutes of the match. However, Celta managed to equalize through Borja Iglesias. Fortunately, there was Valverde who saved Madrid through his goal in the 90th minute + 4. The goal was created dramatically and two minutes later the match was over.
The victory makes Madrid, who are in second place, have 63 points. They are still one point behind Barca, who will face Athletic.
Meanwhile, Celta failed to close the gap with Real Betis who occupy the fifth position. Celta, who are in sixth place, have 40 points or three points behind Betis.
"The journey in the LaLiga competition is really long. There are still many points to be achieved. Even at this point, LaLiga is like it just started," said Arbeloa in response to the competition with Barca which has not ended even though it has entered the final part of the competition.
"Every match against a team certainly has a different target. And every match is a war," he said.
Arbeloa also gave appreciation to the players who fought to win even though they couldn't bring down the best squad. "We came with 10 players who were absent due to injury. If they manage to win, they deserve appreciation," said Arbeloa again.
In that match, Arbeloa did lose a lot of players. In addition to Kylian Mbappe so that the front line duet relied on Vinicius Junior and Brahim Diaz, Madrid has not been strengthened by Jude Bellingham and Eduardo Camavinga. Meanwhile, Rodrygo has left the competition due to an ACL injury.
Arbeloa also gave the opportunity to 18-year-old midfielder Thiago Pitarch to enter the starting line-up. This is Thiago's first appearance as a starter in the main team of Los Merengues.
Only, Madrid was a little late in the heat. Celta put pressure through Iglesias who forced goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to make a brilliant save. Furthermore, Madrid played offensively and created a number of opportunities. As a result, Vinicius Jr almost broke the host's goal. However, his kick still hit the crossbar.
If the Brazilian national team's forward still fails, on the other hand, midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni manages to complete an assist from Arda Guler when the match enters the 11th minute. Starting from a corner kick received by Guler and he then passed a pass quite far into the penalty box which was greeted by Tchouameni. There was no escort for this French player so that he could shoot into the corner of the goal.
Score 1-0 for Madrid. The first goal made Celta rise. They put pressure and finally managed to equalize the score in the 25th minute. The goal was produced by Iglesias who finished a cross from Williot Swedberg.
The goal that changed the score to 1-1 made the Celta players excited again. The offensive game of the team coached by Claudio Giraldez was able to disrupt the defense. Madrid. Even Swedberg almost broke Courtois's goal towards the end of the first half. Fortunately, the Belgian goalkeeper showed his ability again by saving his goal.
In the second half, Madrid tried to put pressure. But their efforts did not bear fruit. Celta's solid defense frustrated the Madrid players. Even Celta almost added a goal when substitute Iago Aspas' shot hit the crossbar.
When the match was expected to end in a draw, Madrid was able to take advantage of the opportunity to score the decisive goal. Valverde's hard shot from outside the penalty area accidentally hit Celta defender Marcos Alonso. As a result, the ball turned around and slid into the goal. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Ionut Radu was dead.
The score changed 2-1 through a goal that was created in injury time. Not long after the final whistle sounded and Madrid could pick up the victory. This is a valuable capital for Los Blancos who will face Manchester City in the first 16-big match at the Santiago Bernabeu, in the middle of next week.
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