Real Madrid are still alive in La Liga — despite another afternoon of great suffering.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team started well against Celta Vigo, with a great performance by Arda Guler. He opened the scoring, before a brace from Kylian Mbappe seemed to seal the game.
But, as usual this season, Madrid struggled in the final minutes and Celta came close to an equaliser after goals from Javi Rodriguez and Williot Swedberg. As a consequence, the Bernabeu fans once again whistled at their team, but Madrid held on to a valuable 3-2 victory.
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The next game is El Clasico (next Sunday, 11 May), which looks vital for Ancelotti, who is still aiming to win a title before his planned departure from the club: “La Liga is in Barcelona’s hand. But we have more chances if we are able to win,” the Madrid head coach said.
With four games remaining, Madrid are four points behind Barcelona, the current leaders on 79 points.
The Athletic’s Guillermo Rai was at the Bernabeu and brings you the key talking points.
Arda Guler hasn’t featured much this season.
In the list of players with the most minutes in the team, the 20-year-old Turkish international is 17th, with 1,471 minutes. But against Celta, Guler once again proved that he deserves more chances with a great performance, including a goal and an assist.
Guler started playing as a right-winger, replacing Rodrygo, who, according to the club, was ill and therefore not called up. The Brazilian’s absence was hardly noticeable, and Guler was key to nearly every attacking move from the start.
In just the third minute, he tried to score a very difficult goal with a volley, but the ball went too high. The atmosphere in the Bernabeu, which had previously been very subdued, began to get excited.
In the 23rd minute, playing close to the touchline, Guler beat the Celta defence with ease and once again brought the Bernabeu to its feet.
It was the Turk’s last warning before he opened the scoring in the 33rd minute with a left-footed whipped shot from the edge of the box.
Guler scored Madrid’s opener (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
His celebration was also a declaration of intent. He marched to the corner and pointed to the Madrid crest — in case there were any doubts about his future at the club, according to his camp.
“Madrid gave me a plan and I still believe in it,” Guler told Marca in late March.
After the match, Ancelotti was even more blunt. “It has been a natural progression, he is a player who wants to continue at Madrid, who has worked hard and has not lost confidence,” the manager said. “The Guler of September is not the Guler of today, which is also evident on a physical level. He still has the same quality.
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“You have to suck the bench to be a starter at Real Madrid. Arda did very well last year, he did better this year and he will do even better next season.”
Before the end, Guler still had time to gift Mbappe an assist. He also tried to score a brace, but a good save from Celta goalkeeper Vicente Guaita prevented it.
In total, Guler completed all of his passes (62 out of 62), made three key passes and won two duels against Celta.
“Two months ago, I threw a stick (Ancelotti criticised) at what was around him, but now I have to congratulate him because they have done a good job,” continued Ancelotti, who did not rule out Guler starting in El Clasico.
As last season concluded, Guler was one of the team’s main characters, with five goals in the last five games he played in La Liga. No less is expected of him as this season draws to a close.
Mbappe overtakes Cristiano… but there’s a trick to it
After the club’s thrashing against Arsenal in the Champions League, it wasn’t plain sailing for Mbappe.
In the following match — and even although the 26-year-old striker wasn’t selected and was seated in a box — he was whistled by a large section of the Bernabeu when his image appeared on the screens.
But the French international had a chance to make amends against Celta, and did so by giving Madrid victory with two goals.
On a counter-attack in the 39th minute, Jude Bellingham had a clear sight of Mbappe, who scored a superb goal. In the second half, in the 48th minute, the striker fired a low shot past Guaita.
Before the end of the game, he came close to a hat-trick with a volley, but the shot went high.
(Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
It didn’t matter. Thanks to his brace, Mbappe had already surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo’s goalscoring tally in his first season (Ronaldo scored 33).
So far, the Frenchman has scored 35 goals, though it has taken him 16 games more than his idol to do so. In any case, he still has four La Liga games and the Club World Cup to widen the gap.
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“He’s going to be an important player against Barcelona. The fact that the line is forward, his movements will be important and decisive. If he does that, the better it is for us,” Ancelotti said.
Madrid’s chances of fighting for the championship may depend on his goals.
How Madrid’s defence collapsed… again
Beyond Guler and Mbappe, not all the signs were positive.
“We played a good first half, but then we collapsed. This can’t happen again,” said Federico Valverde at the end of the match.
Despite being three goals up, Ancelotti’s side struggled again after replacing Raul Asencio in the 67th minute. The Madrid youth player “couldn’t take it anymore” (as Ancelotti explained afterwards) and had to be replaced by Jacobo Ramon. There were no other options.
At the time of the substitution, Madrid had five defenders out injured (Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba, Ferland Mendy) and a midfielder who could have played in defence but was out for the same reason (Eduardo Camavinga).
Therefore, Ancelotti could not remove Aurelien Tchouameni, who was close to being suspended (because he had accumulated four yellow cards). If he saw one more yellow, he risked missing El Clasico.
In any case, the change made Ancelotti’s team automatically relax in defence.
In the 69th minute, Celta defender Javi Rodriguez took advantage of a rebound from a corner and scored.
Rodriguez scores for Celta (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Just seven minutes later, Williot Swedberg slipped in a free space between Ramon and Tchouameni to make it 3-2.
There was still a chance for Celta to equalise when Pablo Duran’s shot inside the box was brilliantly saved by Thibaut Courtois. In total, Celta had seven shots on target — one more than Madrid.
Once again, the Belgian goalkeeper was key for Madrid with three great saves before the end of the 90 minutes.
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That said, it didn’t end well: Madrid were back to suffering in the final minutes as they have done so many times this season at the Bernabeu (including against Celta in the Copa del Rey).
Madrid have already conceded 33 goals in La Liga (seven more than in the whole of last season).
In addition, the lack of willingness on the part of their attackers in the transitions of the opposition was seen again, with Ancelotti’s team ending up split in two several times.
These systemic problems have plagued the team this season and the Italian has not been able to solve them despite identifying them early on. As a result, the manager’s situation has become more and more compromised until we are where we are. Although Ancelotti said before the Celta game that he would not reveal anything about his future until 25 May, the expectation is that he will leave the club before the summer Club World Cup.
Speaking of the last few minutes of today’s game, Ancelotti said: “The game seemed to be over.” Against Barcelona, they won’t be able to relax like that.
What next for Madrid?
Sunday, May 11: Barcelona (Away), La Liga, 3.15pm UK, 10.15am ET
(Top photo: Mbappe scoring his second against Celta Vigo; by Gokhan Taner/Middle East Images via AFP/Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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