Celta suffered a 1-2 defeat against CA Osasuna in their season debut at Abanca Balaídos, in a match the Sky Blues controlled for an hour thanks to an early goal from Iago Aspas, before Marcos Alonso’s red card turned the game against them.
Before kick-off, the Celta faithful paid tribute to Borja Iglesias, the first Celta player and the first Galician footballer to become a world champion with the Spanish national team. The striker stepped onto the pitch with his medal, received a commemorative plaque from Sergio Álvarez and performed the ceremonial kick-off. After this special moment, Claudio Giráldez’s side started with confidence and quickly forced a well-organised Osasuna team to sit deep. The breakthrough came in the 14th minute when Miguel Román set up Iago Aspas, who beat Sergio Herrera. Celta managed the remainder of the first half with maturity and went into the break against an opponent that barely troubled Andrei Radu.
After the restart, the game changed completely. In the 51st minute, following a VAR review, the referee reduced Celta to ten men by sending off Marcos Alonso. Osasuna stepped forward, equalised in the 64th minute through Kike Barja and, after a penalty was awarded in the Celta area, Ante Budimir scored the 1-2 in the 74th minute. Far from giving up, the Vigo side pushed for an equaliser until the final whistle, but without reward.
Attention now immediately turns to the next fixture, once again at Abanca Balaídos. On Sunday 30 August at 21:30, Celta will host Athletic Club with the clear aim of securing their first victory of the season.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
1 – Celta: Andrei Radu; Javi Rodríguez, Yoel Lago, Marcos Alonso; Javi Rueda (Hugo Álvarez, 65’), Miguel Román, Ilaix Moriba, Javi Galán (Sergio Carreira, 65’); Iago Aspas (Carl Starfelt, 52’), Pablo Durán (Ferran Jutglà, 79’) and Williot Swedberg (Jones El-Abdellaoui, 65’).
2 – CA Osasuna: Sergio Herrera; Arguibide, Catena, Herrando (Rubén García, 58’), Osambela, Bretones; Dubasin (Ante Budimir, 58’), Moncayola (Iker Muñoz, 46’), Torró, Kike Barja (Moi Gómez, 74’) and Raúl García (Aimar Oroz, 82’).
Goals: 1-0, 14’: Iago Aspas; 1-1, 64’: Kike Barja; 1-2, 74’: Ante Budimir (penalty).
Referee: Miguel Sesma Espinosa (Rioja committee). He booked Marcos Alonso (51’) for Celta and Jonathan Dubasin (27’) for CA Osasuna. Marcos Alonso was sent off in the same action following a VAR review.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the postponed Matchday 1 of LaLiga EA Sports, played at Abanca Balaídos in front of 20,645 spectators.
