RC Celta advanced to the next round of the Copa del Rey after beating Racing Club de Santander at Los Campos de Sport in El Sardinero. A brace by Alfon and an own goal by Javi Castro gave the victory to the Celtic team against a Racing team that made things very difficult despite being down a man for most of the match.
The Three Wise Men came early and arrived on the afternoon of January 5 with the best of gifts: high-voltage soccer for the round of 16 of the Cup, in a match that ended with a gift for the celtistas.
The match started with a cold shower for Claudio Giráldez’s team, who quickly found themselves behind on the scoreboard. Before 10 minutes had elapsed, Andrés Martín put the Racinguistas ahead with a goal that made the locals dream of a surprise. However, Celta did not take long to react, and it was Alfon who, after a great assist from Pablo Durán, equalized.
The game became more difficult for the mountain side in the 35th minute, when Álvaro Mantilla was red carded for a foul on Alfon, leaving Racing with 10 players and the game unresolved. Despite the numerical inferiority, and the difference in categories, the locals took the lead again at the start of the second half, when an unfortunate clearance by Javi Rodríguez ended up in the back of Iván Villar’s goal, making the score 2-1. But he would not be the only one to suffer that fate, as a quarter of an hour later it would be Javi Castro who would score his own goal, restoring parity.
The clock was ticking and everything was pointing to extra time, but Alfon appeared again to score the definitive 2-3 in stoppage time, after a measured assist from Moriba.
With this victory, RC Celta continues to move forward and qualifies for the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey. Their next opponent will be determined by chance on Wednesday, January 8 at 13:00h at the Ciudad Deportiva de Las Rozas.
FICHA TÉCNICA:
2 – Real Racing Club de Santander: Parera, Michelin (Sangalli, min.78′), Mantilla, Javi Castro, Saúl (Salinas, min. 78′); Vencedor, Aldasoro; Andrés Martín (Pol Moreno, min. 85′), Pablo Rodríguez (Manu Hernando, min. 46′), Vicente and Karrikaburu (Arana, min. 63′).
3 – RC Celta: Iván Villar; Javi Rodríguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Mingueza (Sergio Carreira, min.46′), Hugo Sotelo (Moriba, min. 73′), Fran Beltrán, Hugo Álvarez (Cervi, min. 46′); Iago Aspas (Swedberg, min. 56′), Alfon and Pablo Durán (Borja Iglesias, min. 66′).
Goles: 1-0, min. 8′, Andrés Martín; 1-1, min. 20′, Alfon. 2-1, min. 70′, Javi Rodriguez (p.p.); 2-2, min. 85′, Javi Castro (p.p); 2-3, min. 92′, Alfon.
Árbitro: González Fuertes. Yellow cards for Pablo Rodriguez (min. 31′), Mingueza (min. 31′), Fran Beltrán (min. 40′), Hugo Sotelo (min. 69′), Arana (min. 75′), Swedberg (90′), Borja Iglesias (min. 95′) and Íñigo Vicente (min. 95′); and a straight red card for Mantilla (min. 35′).
Estadio: Copa del Rey round of 32 match played at Los Campos de Sport de El Sardinero in front of 20,312 spectators.
