Hugo Álvarez and Aspas made it 2-0 in Balaídos
MADRID, 6 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
RC Celta beat RCD Mallorca (2-0) this Friday at the start of matchday 16 of LaLiga EA Sports with a solid performance at the Abanca Balaídos Stadium against the revelation team of the season, to be able to look towards the positions of the noble area where the Balearic team has lost strength this week.
Claudio Giráldez’s men came out of three days without winning in the heat of their fans and with goals from Hugo Álvarez and Iago Aspas, one in each half, with the sentence after a red card to Antonio Raíllo in the 78th minute. Mallorca, that fell during the week against FC Barcelona, saw its European ambition stopped against a Celta that, as close to the top as it was to the bottom, looked up.
An intense match was expected in Balaídos, due to Celta’s good image at home, plus the need to add, and the trajectory of the team that has improved the most compared to last year, at least in the table, as is a Mallorca that also he had won in the last two visits to Vigo. The dispute was about the control of the ball and the pace of the game in the first half, with the motto of both teams to look towards the rival goal.
Hugo Álvarez made it 1-0 at half-time, when Celta insisted with a couple of consecutive attacks and pressed a rival throw-in. From the recovery and the play at the first touch was born the poisoned shot to the squad that opened the can. However, equally decisive for Celta was Vicente Guaita.
The local goalkeeper took three headers, two to Cyle Larin and another to Antonio Raíllo, which could have been worth the goals of a Mallorca team without Celta’s punch. The locals, who lamented the injury of debutant Fer López and moved up with the struggle of Borja Iglesias, took advantage of what they had on goal.
The Balearic Islands ended up paying for those missed chances, because the second half did not bring improvement for their interests. Neither Robert Navarro nor Dani Rodríguez played a leading role and, by hanging balls, even though Vedat Muriqi came on later, Jagoba Arraste’s team did not have a good connection with the goal.
Meanwhile, Celta, with Iago Aspas already on the field since the youth player’s injury in the Cup, was the one who established its dominance and arrived with danger, again with Hugo Álvarez. The changes did not intimidate the locals and, in the 75th minute, came the play that finished giving the script to the light blues, the red card to Raíllo for a handball that the referee did not see but the VAR did.
The visiting captain cut off Douvikas’ attack and, although he hid it with his head, in the repeated image there was little doubt and the action seemed clearly in danger of scoring. Shortly after, Aspas made it 2-0 and rounded off a great night for Celta to convince themselves that they can aspire to something more this season, with 21 points to the 24 of a Mallorca that has one or more games than its rivals.