Real Madrid is not much for the League anymore but they prevailed with skill and solvency against Celta, who paid for their initial conservatism and did not have the resources to get involved in the game when it was uphill. The Whites are provisionally eight points behind the leader. With five starting changes from those who won in London, including Kroos and Modric, Los Blancos made do with a low-intensity march in a game that was played mostly in the middle of the pitch as Celta pushed forward the defensive line and blocked the match until it turned into a rather thick match.
The first half was particularly boring. Madrid did not give speed to the ball and did not know how to create chances. Celta forgot about Courtois and were content to short-circuit the play of the whites.
With Vinícius a hair off in his duel with Kevin, Madrid circled Iván Villar's area but without really troubling him because he was not done with the last pass, with Ceballos imprecise and Tchouaméni very slow, a real diesel. The whites scored several times from outside the area but with a very mismatched aim.
When everything indicated that they would go to the break with 0-0, Madrid found the goal in a defensive inattention by Celta, the only one of the first half. In the 42nd, after a recovery from Camavinga, the most active of the locals, Ceballos served a ball to Vinícius and he assisted Asensio, who shot with his left to make it 1-0 on the scoreboard.
If the goal had taken a long time in the first act, it arrived two minutes into the second, a corner which Militão headed very well and which finally put the game where Madrid wanted, with Celta forced to open up and the whites more interested in the counter than in controlling the game.
Benzema headed the third, but Villar kept it out with a great save. Celta tried, now with possession of the ball. Carvalhal brought on Gabri Veiga, who had said very little, despite the expectations he came with and his team had no more firepower even so. Vinícius had some counter to sentence, but it was not his day and Courtois took a goal scored by Aspas.
