RC Celta suffered a painful defeat against Valencia CF on matchday 22 of LaLiga EA Sports at the Mestalla stadium. The lack of forcefulness in the final third condemned the sky blue side, who crumbled after Javi Guerra’s goal just minutes after the equaliser.
Celta took to the field with the clear conviction of imposing their game from the start and the first clear arrival was the first of the Celestes. Pablo Durán filtered a measured pass for Borja Iglesias but the shot ended up hitting the side of the net. It was the first warning in a game in which Claudio Giráldez’s side looked comfortable on the pitch but were unable to break down the Valencia defence, who, despite having less control of the ball, were able to do more damage.
A few minutes before the break, the Che team managed to take the lead after a counter-attack in which Luis Rioja reached the edge of the box with an advantage and managed to send the ball into the back of the net.
At the start of the second half, Celta continued to dominate the game and tried to react to the adverse result, but the chances were fading away without causing much trouble to the home side’s defence. The best chance came from Alfon who, a few minutes after entering the field, had the opportunity to equalize the match with a shot from the edge of the area that Mamardashvili managed to deflect. It was in the 65th minute, when Pablo Durán took advantage of a measured assist from Sergio Carreira to send the ball in at the far post and beat the Georgian goalkeeper. A goal that seemed to give the game some air and excitement, but the joy was short-lived. Within three minutes, Valencia were back in front with a Javi Guerra strike that flew into the top corner of Vicente Guaita’s goal.
During the remaining time, Celta tried to maintain the control of the game but the lack of success in front of goal and the defensive deployment of the Valencian team truncated the possibility of tying the game.
RC Celta’s next game in the competition will be on Saturday, 8 February at 14:00h, against Real Betis Balompié at the Abanca Balaídos stadium.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
2 – Valencia CF: Mamardashvili, Foulquier (Diakhaby, min. 80), Cristhian Mosquera, César Tárrega, Gayà, Enzo Barrenechea (Hugo Guillamón, min. 86), Javi Guerra (Pepelu, min. 80), Diego López (Fran Pérez, min. 86), Luis Rioja, André Almeida and Hugo Duro (Sadiq, min. 66).
1 – RC Celta: Vicente Guaita, Javi Rodríguez, Carl Starfelt, Carlos Domínguez (Fer López, min. 86), Fran Beltrán (Damián Rodríguez, min. 58), Ilaix Moriba, Sergio Carreira, Franco Cervi (Tasos Douvikas, min. 70), Pablo Durán, Williot Swedberg (Iker Losada, min. 70) and Borja Iglesias (Alfon, min. 58).
Goals: 1-0, min. 44: Luis Rioja. 1-1, min. 65: Pablo Durán. 2-1, min. 68: Javi Guerra.
Referee: González Fuertes (Asturian committee). For RC Celta, yellow cards were shown to Ilaix Moriba and Carl Starfelt. Enzo Barrenechea was cautioned for the home side.
Incidents: Match corresponding to matchday 22 of LALIGA EA SPORTS played at the Mestalla stadium in front of 42,273 spectators.
