RC Celta continues to reign at home and gets its third consecutive victory in Abanca Balaídos against Real Valladolid.
The match started with the tribute of the club to the Celta player, Martín de la Puente, for his success in the Paralympic Games of Paris 2024 where he won the bronze medal in adapted tennis. A standing ovation from a packed stadium, with more than 21,500 fans, proudly acknowledged the emotional athlete who performed the ceremonial kick-off.
The match was totally dominated by the Celeste team in which Pablo Durán made his debut as a starter in the First Division. The home-grown player, who showed a spectacular physical display, had the first chance of the match with a header that went just wide of the post. In the 22nd minute, it was the home-grown player, Hugo Álvarez, who scored the first goal with a left-footed shot that went straight into the back of the net.
Celta pressed, they felt comfortable, they were at home and the team wanted more against Real Valladolid’s desperate attempts to control the game. But, in the 36th minute, the second goal of the Vigo team arrived. Borja Iglesias scored his first goal in Abanca Balaídos after a rebound that escaped Hein and that Panda took advantage of.
In the second half, the pucelano team managed to close the gap with a goal by Raúl Moro, in the 50th minute, after a quick action on the wing. At this point, Valladolid came out on top and tried to put Claudio Giráldez’s team against the ropes, but they did not give in and continued to dominate the game. In the 81st minute, the referee, Hernández Maeso, sent off the Valladolid player, Mario Martín, after a hard tackle on Williot. Three minutes later, after a rehearsed move, Javi Rodríguez made it 3-1, but the referee ruled that it was offside. It was on the verge of the final whistle when Tasos Douvikas put the game to bed by scoring the third after a pass from Iago Aspas.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
3 – RC Celta: Vicente Guaita; Javi Rodríguez (Aidoo, min.88), Jailson (Marcos Alonso, min.75), Starfelt; Óscar Mingueza, Fran Beltrán, Hugo Sotelo (Damián, min.68), Hugo Álvarez; Iago Aspas, Pablo Durán (Williot Swedberg, min.75) and Borja Iglesias (Douvikas, min.68).
1 – Real Valladolid: Hein; Luis Pérez, Cömert (Juric, min.63), Cenk, Lucas Rosa; Amallah (Kenedy, min.86), Mario Martín, Kike Pérez (Víctor Meseguer, min.46); Chuki (Iván Sánchez, min.46), Amath (Raúl Moro, min.46) and Latasa.
Goals: 1-0, m.21: Hugo Álvarez; 2-0, m.35: Borja Iglesias; 2-1; Moro, m.50; 3-1, m.91: Tasos Douvikas.
Referee: Hernández Maeso (Extremadura Committee). He sent off Mario Martín (min.81) with a straight red card for a hard tackle on Williot Swedberg. In addition, he cautioned Hugo Álvarez (min.41), Hugo Sotelo (min.60), Javi Rodríguez (min.66) for RC Celta, and Lucas Rosa (min.40), Chuki (min.45), Amallah (min.54), Juric (min.83), Latasa (min.86) for Real Valladolid.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the fifth round of LALIGA EA SPORTS in front of 21,670 spectators at Abanca Balaídos.
