Mbappe and Vinicius Junior scored in Real Madrid’s win over Celta Vigo

MADRID —

Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior were on target as Real Madrid ended their visit to Celta de Vigo with a hard-fought 2-1 win on Saturday as the Spanish league resumed after the international break.

Mbappe punished the loss of the ball when the hosts tried to take the ball behind the crescent, from where in the 20th minute he struck with his right foot towards the goal.

Vinicius Junior was on the scoreboard in the 66th after receiving a pass into space from Luka Modric, with which he headed towards goal, beating goalkeeper Vicente Guaita before scoring from an open frame.

Williot Svedberg immediately equalized for the Galician team with a shot from the center of the penalty area after Oscar Mingueza’s pass from the right flank in the 51st minute.

“It was a competitive, hard-fought and difficult match. Our merit is that we fought to the end; Of course we could have played better, yes, but the team was committed the whole game,” Italian strategist Carlo Ancelotti said of his team’s victory. “Celta played well, with intensity, but we earned three very important points.”

The victory leaves Meringue in second position with 24 units, the same as leader Barcelona, ​​which hosts Sevilla on Sunday.

Real Madrid have gone 42 league matches without defeat, remaining one step below the historic mark that Barcelona set between 2017 and 2018. The meringues could repeat this record next weekend in the Clasico against the cules at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Celta were unlucky in the finishing zone and finished in tenth position with 13 points.

French star Mbappe made good use of his compatriot Eduardo Camavinga’s pass from the rebound, making it his first goal from outside the box as a Madrid player, having scored six league goals (eight in all competitions).

The Merengue goal came ten minutes later after Svedberg failed to solve a one-on-one problem with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who reacted superbly to save the Swedish striker’s low kick.

Svedberg had the opportunity to redeem himself with a pass from Mingueza, which he sent into the net.

Vinicius scored his fifth goal of the season thanks to a pass from Modric, who had been on the field three minutes after coming on as a substitute.

The Croatian veteran celebrated his assist by becoming the oldest player to play for Real Madrid at 39 years and 40 days, surpassing the mark held by Hungarian Ferenc Puskas (39 years and 36 days) since then. Campaign 1965-1966

Courtois avoided a draw with another save through the middle, which saw Jonathan Bamba fire a shot towards goal which was again saved by the Belgian goalkeeper with his foot.

Celta had the opportunity to equalize in stoppage time with a counterattack in which Anastasios Douvikas received a pass in the center of the penalty area, but his shot went towards the goal.

The merengue players took to the field wearing T-shirts with a message in support of Dani Carvajal, who suffered a serious right knee injury in the last match before the league break that will keep him out for several months.

Sports Golea

Iñaki Williams scored a brace within minutes to shine in Athletic Bilbao’s 4-1 win over Espanyol.

Williams shocked the goal in the 28th and 30th minutes; Dani Vivian opened the scoring with a six and Alex Berenguer scored the fourth on 55. Alvaro Tejero scored for the visitors in the second minute of stoppage time.

The victory moved the Basque team into fourth position with 17 points; The Barcelona team is in 15th place with 10 points.

In other results, Betis beat Osasuna 2-1 at home, putting Betis in 6th place with 15 points. Navarre’s team finished seventh with the same number of points.

Away, Real Sociedad beat Girona with a score of 1:0. Thuri Urdin are in 11th place with 12 points; Girona ended up in 13th place with the same number of units.