Their 2-2 draw at the Bernabéu lifted Celta back out of the relegation zone; more importantly, it lifted them emotionally
First Joseph Aidoo took Zinedine Zidane down, then Denis Suárez and Santi Mina did the same to his defence. The first hit was harder but the second hurt more. There were 30 minutes left at the Bernabéu when everyone saw the Ghanaian tumble off the pitch and crash into the Real Madrid manager, knocking him to the floor and giving him a bloody lip; there were four minutes left when the Galician saw something none of them had, except the man born in the same province a month earlier. And before anyone knew it, so swift and smooth, via some hidden portal, the ball was in the net. Neither of them had started the game, but Suárez and Mina had ended it: 1-0 up, 2-1 down, it was now 2-2 and it was done.
High in the north-eastern corner, way, way above the pitch, 700 Celta de Vigo fans went wild. “They’ve been with us since we woke from our siesta,” said Iago Aspas. They had followed the team from the hotel to the ground. It was almost 11pm now, and they weren’t going anywhere. The players headed to the dressing room and then back out again, leaping about in front of them, singing. It was a wonder some of them could still stand; at the full-time whistle, there had been bodies lying everywhere, exhausted. It was only a draw, sure, but here, where they hadn’t won in 13 years, this was big. “One small point, one giant leap,” El Faro de Vigo called it. Enough to take them out of the relegation zone, believing they could actually survive.
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Magical assist = Messi
Clinical finish = Griezmann
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El Clasico is on the horizon pic.twitter.com/0kDpikr8Au
Diego Cervero pic.twitter.com/SGQx4Z9Jsw
Real Madrid 2-1 Celta Vigo, Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Osasuna, Leganes 0-0 Real Betis, Sevilla 2-2 Espanyol, Granada 2-1 Valladolid, Villarreal 2-1 Levante, Barcelona 2-1 Getafe, Mallorca 1-0 Alavés, Valencia 2-2 Atlético
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