Celta Vigo 1-4 Real Madrid: Highlights and recap

Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo 4-1 in La Liga on Wednesday, May 17. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Real Madrid are within touching distance of the La Liga title. Los Blancos needed only four points from their remaining two matches heading into their trip to Celta Vigo on Wednesday, and got off to an excellent start.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring with a powerful, left-footed finish from the top of the 18-yard box. The move started with an excellent pass by Marcelo into the feet of Isco, still in the lineup in place of the injured Gareth Bale, who fed Ronaldo for an exquisite finish.

The goal was not, however, a sign of things to come, as Celta began to boss possession and had the better of the chances over the remaining 35 minutes of the half. Their best effort came via a Daniel Wass free-kick on the half-hour mark, which Keylor Navas could only parry.

Iago Aspas, meanwhile, was a threat throughout, though he was perhaps a little more selfish than he needed to be; a 36th minute shot into the side-netting was as close as he came.

There was a minor controversy in the 38th minute, as Celta felt they should have been awarded a free-kick for what looked like a Raphael Varane handball, but the ref either didn’t spot the infringement or deemed it non-deliberate. Aspas was yellow carded for his protests.

Real doubled their lead shortly after halftime, with Isco again providing the assist for Ronaldo. The Spaniard carried the ball half the length of the pitch before playing an inch-perfect pass for his teammate.

Things went from bad to worse for Celta, as Aspas was then sent off for a second yellow card for diving. There appeared to be contact between Aspas and Sergio Ramos on the play, but replays suggested Aspas went out of his way to initiate it.

The home side responded well to the set back, however, and scored in the 69th minute. This time it was Isco’s mistake that led to a goal, as John Guidetti pounced on his poor pass before finishing past Navas, thanks in large part to a big deflection off Ramos.

Real quickly put any hope of a comeback to bed less than two minutes later, Karim Benzema tapping home from close range after an excellent run by Marcelo down the left. Toni Kroos put the result beyond doubt with a fourth goal in the 88th minute.

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Highlights

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Real will face Malaga on Sunday knowing they need only a single point to win the title.