There was no better remedy to reduce the tension that had built up in Vigo all week over the possible sale of Javi Rueda to Nottingham Forest than Celta’s performance in their season debut at Balaídos, even though the match against Osasuna ended in defeat. The Galician team took to the field convinced of Claudio Giráldez’s plan, very precise in ball circulation and brilliant in pressing after losing possession against their opponent, who initially was unable to steal the ball from a team that moved it to every corner of the pitch and had already scored before the first quarter of an hour with an excellent move by Iago Aspás. However, the associative and stimulating football of the Celestes faded when Marcos Alonso saw red at the start of the second half for a harsh tackle on Iker Muñoz that VAR ordered to review after the referee initially considered the yellow card a sufficient punishment. The numerical inferiority broke Celta, disoriented without possession and then hit by a strict penalty converted by Budimir. The forward headed a corner that seemed to hit Javi Galán’s chest before also hitting his hand, but the video referee did not correct the action and the Croatian converted the penalty to give Luis Miguel Ramis’s team their first league win after Monday’s 0-0 against Levante, leaving the Vigo team with only one point after the first two rounds.
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The Balaídos pitch, newly planted due to the fungus that forced the postponement of the August 16 match until tonight, withstood impeccably the rain that fell all week in Vigo. The ball began to circulate very quickly on the grass after the stadium paid tribute in the pre-match to Borja Iglesias, the club’s first Spanish world champion in history. Ilaix and especially the youth player Miguel Román gave a lot of rhythm to Celta’s attacks, with Javi Galán on the left flank and Rueda on the right after the club rejected Nottingham Forest’s offer of 15 million euros, far below the 40 million stipulated in the release clause of a player who is essential for Giráldez due to his speed and power in offensive runs.
Both the coach from O Porriño and Osasuna’s coach made five changes in the starting eleven compared to the league debut and both also lined up with a three-center-back defense. For Ramis’s team, with Torró and Moncayola in the engine room, the ball lasted only a moment due to Celta’s sharp pressing and collective play, ordered from the criteria of Miguel Román, finally recovered from the fracture of the fifth metatarsal of his left foot suffered last March.
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Ilaix and Swedberg lunged at Torró like crocodiles to steal the ball, and it was Miguel Román who set Aspas in motion. The captain, in his sixteenth and final season as a Celeste at 39 years old, received the ball in the final third with all the space in the world ahead of him to advance towards the area, feint the Osasuna midfielder, and beat Sergio Herrera with a dry, crossed left-footed shot. The action was of sublime quality but gave the impression that Ramis’s defense was very soft.
The goal rewarded Celta’s energetic and collective display, but they struggled to threaten Osasuna’s goal again. The Navarrese players ran after their opponents but reached halftime without suffering a violent onslaught of attempts on Sergio Herrera. Ramis brought on Iker Muñoz after the break. The midfielder received the tackle from Marcos Alonso that changed the game’s dynamic before Kike Barja converted a cross and Budimir scored the second from the penalty spot. Giráldez’s rotation, which brought on El Abdellaoui, Carreira, Hugo Álvarez, and Jutglà, did not prevent Celta from suffering their first defeat of the season at Balaídos, where they will host Athletic on Sunday.
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| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
