Celta suffered a 2-3 defeat against Levante UD at Abanca Balaídos in a hard-fought match that ultimately came down to fine margins in both penalty areas. Claudio Giráldez’s side took the lead twice, both times through Ferran Jutglà, but failed to hold onto their advantage and ended up conceding the three points.
The Catalan striker was Celta’s main attacking threat and opened the scoring very early on. He needed just five minutes to finish off a moment of brilliance inside the box, and he doubled Celta’s lead at the start of the second half, arriving late into the box to convert a cross from Javi Rueda.
Celta, with a starting eleven featuring eight players with experience in the youth team, alternated periods of deep defensive play with extended spells of possession to control the tempo of the game. However, a desperate Levante side found a way to respond whenever they fell behind. Levante capitalized on two long-range shots to level the score and ultimately decided the match with a set piece.
In the final stages, Celta never stopped trying, pushing until the last minute, but between the opposition’s interruptions and a lack of precision in the final third, the equalizer never came.
With two matchdays remaining, there is still time to dream of repeating their European qualification hopes. Those chances hinge on their next match, the final away game of the season, where Giráldez’s men will fight to get back to winning ways against Athletic Club this Sunday at 7:00 PM at San Mamés.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
2 – Celta: Andrei Radu; Javi Rodríguez, Yoel Lago, Marcos Alonso; Javi Rueda (Pablo Durán, min. 64), Fer López, Hugo Sotelo (Óscar Mingueza, min. 76), Sergio Carreira; Iago Aspas (Williot Swedberg, min. 64), Hugo Álvarez (Borja Iglesias, min. 64) and Ferran Jutglà (Jones El-Abdellaoui, min. 76).
3 – Levante UD: Ryan; Toljan, Dela, Matías Moreno, Pampín (Manu Sánchez, min. 77); Arriaga, Olasagasti, Pablo Martínez (Raghouber, min. 61); Víctor García (Burgué, min. 61), Tunde (Iker Losada, min. 46) and Carlos Espí (Iván Romero, min. 85).
Goals: 1-0 (min. 4) Ferran Jutglà. 1-1 (min. 44) Arriaga. 2-1 (min. 48) Ferran Jutglà. 2-2 (min. 57) Dela. 2-3 (min. 63) Brugué.
Referee: Adrián Cordero Vega (Cantabria). He issued yellow cards to the visiting players Pampín and Ryan.
Incidents: Match corresponding to Matchday 36 of LaLiga EA Sports, played at Abanca Balaídos in front of 19,185 spectators. Prior to the match, the Tui bagpipe band, Arume de Malvas, performed.
