Real Madrid suffered its second consecutive defeat after winning 40 straight games, when they hosted Celta de Vigo for the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinal game at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital.
The 1-2 loss was the third winless game in a row for the Spanish giants as they have now lost back-to-back games against Sevilla and Celta by identical scores.
Before the consecutive defeats, Real Madrid tied 3-3 in the second leg of the Copa del Rey series against Sevilla allowing them to advance to the quarterfinals with a 6-3 aggregate score.
From the start it was apparent that the Celta’s head coach Eduardo Berizzo ordered to face Madrid head-on without fear and determined to go back to Vigo with at least a parity in the score.
Vigo took no time putting pressure on Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro in order to keep the Madridistas off balance and uncomfortable on the pitch. For a good portion of the first half the “Blancos” could not find scoring opportunities and they failed to take advantage of the few ones they had.
Marcelo’s movements on the field gave Real Madrid some freedom, but the ball often got lost in midfield. Despite the struggles Real Madrid was still able to create some chances in the first half that kept Sergio Alvarez in check, but none of them clear enough to find the net.
Although it was an open game with both teams leaving spaces on the pitch, they were so evenly matched that they failed to capitalize before half-time.
Celta stroke first after Belgian winger Theo Bongonda sent a cross to the center of the penalty area that Marcelo failed to clear and reached the feet of Iago Aspas, who hit a solid shot past Kiko Casilla in the 64th minute.
Marcelo was determined to make up for his mistake and pushed forward to try and help Real Madrid tie the game. He would do just that in the 69th minute when after a series of passes near Celta’s area, Modric sent a cross to the penalty box which was headed back high by a defender and as it was coming down Marcelo hit with a superb volley past Alvarez.
While Real Madrid were enjoying the equalizing goal they lost their concentration and less than a minute later allowed the second goal. It all happened after Johny Castro pressured Lucas Vasquez, stole the ball from him and combined with Aspas to mount a counter attack that ended with Castro facing an advancing Casilla one-on-one and beating him with a right-foot shot.
Late in the game Karim Benzema had a golden opportunity to tie the score after Alvaro Morata headed a ball back to the penalty spot, but the Frenchman failed to hit it home sending it instead to the stands.
A superb result for Celta de Vigo, who will now try to send Real Madrid packing when they meet in Balaidos on February 5.
