Celta will enjoy a peaceful weekend. Tomorrow he will sit down and watch his rivals with the job done after winning a tough match against Almería, a victory as important as it could not be postponed against the bottom team that had not won a single game all season. A goal from Mingueza in the second half, when Garitano’s team had been left with ten, unblocked a party dominated by the people of Vigo. The day Celta returned, fifteen years later, to play a game without youth players in its starting lineup, a healing victory came that at least calms a little the storm that was hovering over them.
And Celta once again revealed its unfortunate condition. It happened in the 20th minute when Bamba managed to score a great pass from Luca de la Torre who Mingueza found behind the defenders. In the midst of a tense climate, with the team needing something to unwind emotionally, the goal was like opening the windows of a house in the morning. But the VAR appeared on the scene to cancel the action for an offside in the short kick of the corner kick. A mental low that Celta felt, lacking affection, exhausted from everything going wrong. Almería took advantage of this circumstance to approach the Guaita area and shake the spirit of Balaídos when Baba embedded a violent shot into the left post of the Vigo goal.
Fortunately, Benítez’s They returned to earth to set foot in the area of Almería and above all to find, almost always, behind Pubill the spaces to do damage. There were interesting arrivals that only needed to make the right pass because Manu Sánchez and the tireless De la Torre decided to open up Garitano’s team on that side. Bamba helped just enough because he was unable to create a dangerous situation despite the fact that the team provided him with numerous situations to face his partner with time and space. Then he could score Douvikas on a good header to which Maximiano responded and Manquillo then claimed a penalty that existed only in his closet of wishes after a great drop shot by Larsen.
The second half was marked by the expulsion of Langa with half an hour of play left. An ideal situation for Celta, demanded more than ever by the classification, by the rival and by the numerical advantage. There was no longer any excuse to cling to.
Benítez brought on Allende for Douvikas (who had been close to the goal shortly before) and the match became a small monologue with Almería protecting itself as best it could and Celta almost always choosing poorly when it came to giving the final pass.
But then, with just over a quarter of an hour left, Mingueza, who had repeatedly made mistakes, hit a shot that the boat and the water turned into a remote-controlled missile at the right post of Maximiano’s goal. Liberating goal.
Football and destiny, which mistreated Celta for months, winked at Benítez’s team. Baptistao was injured and stayed on the field looking for the “lame goal” and the Vigo team played at will for the last fifteen minutes with an overwhelming numerical advantage. They came close to scoring the second in a couple of actions, but they didn’t even give themselves that placid ending. They still suffered a hit by a ball in the last minute of stoppage time so that Balaídos held his breath before the final whistle.
2024-03-01 22:10:54
#Celta #takes #breath #moment
