Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior were among the goals as Real Madrid defeated Celta Vigo in LALIGA action on Saturday night.
LALIGA
Result: Celta Vigo 1-2 Real Madrid
Date: 19 October 2024
Venue: Estadio Abanca-Balaídos
Thibaut Courtois, Fran Garcia, Eder Militao and Vazquez were all recalled to the Los Blancos starting line-up, with Andry Lunin, Dani Carvajal, Ferland Mendy and Luka Modric dropping out.
There was a lively tempo to the encounter in the early stages, with the home side squandering a couple chances in the opening ten minutes through Williot Swedberg.
Celta were made to pay for those earlier misses as Los Blancos broke the deadlock on 20 minutes as Mbappe grabbed his sixth league goal of the season with a superb strike from distance.
The hosts had the ball in the back of the net a few minutes later through Borja Iglesias' finish, but the celebrations were cut short due to the offside flag being raised by assistant referee.
Los Blancos had a couple more chances to pull further ahead before the break, with Vinicius Junior going closest with a header at the far post as headed wide of the upright when he was unmarked.
The home side got back on level terms five minutes after the break when Swedberg made up for his earlier misses by turning home a cross from Jonathan Bamba.
However, the defending league champions restored their lead in the 65th minute when Modric played in Vinicius Junior, who rounded the Celta goalkeeper before firing into an empty net for his sixth league goal of the season.
Celta nearly got level for the second time with 20 minutes left on the clock but Courtois popped up with the vital save to keep out Bamba's effort in the penalty area.
However, Madrid were able to see off a late push from the home side to secure maximum points and move level with league leaders Barcelona, who are in action on Sunday night.
