Madrid, May 4 (IANS) Real Madrid held on to three crucial points that kept them firmly in the La Liga title race against Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu.
In a pulsating encounter, Arda Guler opened proceedings with a sublime opening goal before Kylian Mbappe’s brace all but sealed the match. Though Celta Vigo mounted a spirited late comeback, Madrid ultimately held on to claim their fourth consecutive league win.
The game began with Guler’s early volley set the tone, igniting a frenetic spell of end-to-end football. Marcos Alonso nearly opened the scoring twice for Celta with headers from successive corners—one narrowly off target, the other spectacularly denied by a leaping Thibaut Courtois. Madrid quickly responded.
In the 33rd minute, after a short corner routine, Lucas Vazquez played a quick pass to Guler, who bamboozled his marker with a clever feint before curling a beautiful left-footed strike into the far corner.
Barely six minutes had passed before the lead was doubled. After Courtois denied Borja Iglesias at the other end, a lightning-quick Madrid counterattack involving just four passes culminated in Mbappe firing a powerful shot from outside the box beyond Guaita’s reach.
The third goal came just after the restart, and again it was the Guler–Mbappe connection that unlocked the Celta defense. The Turkish midfielder sliced open the backline with a perfectly timed through ball, and the Frenchman finished clinically—his 24th goal of the season—with a composed low strike.
Madrid looked poised to run away with the match. Jude Bellingham and Güler both went close to adding a fourth, but a trio of controversial refereeing decisions threatened to shift the narrative. In the 62nd minute, Lago escaped with only a yellow card after hauling down Mbappé as the last man. Moments later, Celta were awarded a corner, from which Javi Rodríguez capitalized on a defensive lapse to reduce the deficit to 3–1.
Celta seized the momentum. In the 76th minute, Iago Aspas teed up Williot, who calmly slotted home to make it 3–2 and set up a nervy final stretch for the home side. Madrid had to dig deep, relying once again on Courtois, whose late saves preserved the lead. Brahim Díaz and Mbappé both came close to adding a fourth in the dying moments, but the damage had already been done.
With this vital win, Real Madrid keep their title hopes alive heading into El Clásico next Sunday.
–IANS
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