MADRID.- Vinicius Júnior He continued his love affair with the goal to lead the team’s victory on Sunday. Real Madrid 4-0 over Celta de Vigo and thus keep their pursuers at bay in the Spanish League.
The Brazilian striker broke the deadlock in the 21st minute, after finishing in the second instance after a couple of rebounds from goalkeeper Vicente Guaita, first from Antonio Rüdiger’s header and then from Vínicius’s first attempt.
“I’m very happy, trying to be the best version of myself,” said Vinícius after his third goal in four games. “It’s a joy to be at this level at this time of the season, just when the best games arrive.”
After a process of sterile dominance, the hosts ended up scoring in the final stretch.
Rüdiger was once again the protagonist in the second goal, in a new corner kick at 79. The defender finished with his head, the ball hit the crossbar and the bounce hit Guaita’s back, so that it ended up in the nets as own goal
Carlos Domínguez also committed an own goal when he tried to reject a Vinícius cross, deflecting it into his own goal in the 88th minute.
In the third minute of stoppage time, Arda Güler made his debut as a merengue scorer after receiving a filtered pass. The Turkish midfielder made a cut to Guaita and scored with a high shot in the last action of the match.
The meringues have gone 22 days without defeat — 16 wins and six draws — to reach 69 points at the top of the Spanish tournament. They maintain a seven-point advantage over second-place Girona and eight more than Barcelona, who won their respective duels against Osasuna and Mallorca on this date.
“We are happy, we have fulfilled because every game at this point in the season can be a trap game,” said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. “We are motivated and focused because we know that it is an important moment of the season.”
Celta remains in an area compromised by relegation, placing 17th with 24 points, just two above Cádiz, which marks the limit for losing space in the first division.
Vinicius had just scored a double against Valencia and scored the goal in midweek against Leipzig to secure a place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The versatile Brazilian winger now has a dozen goals this season and 16 this season.
An old acquaintance back for Real Madrid:
Veteran midfielder Luka Modric was once again a starter and was the architect of the two corner kicks that ended up in the nets. The Croatian replaced in the final stretch accompanied by loud ovations from the Santiago Bernabéu stadium audience.
The meringues offered a very different face than the one they had in the middle of the week against Leipzig in the duel that they tied 1-1 in front of their fans in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 series to advance with an aggregate of 2- 1.
The intense Merengue pressure bore fruit in one of the nine corner kicks they generated in the first half when Rüdiger hit with his head and Guaita rejected it with his legs. Vinícius made his first shot that the goalkeeper again blocked, but the ball was once again at the mercy of the merengue winger to send it into the nets.
Vinicius saw a yellow card during the second half after he was grabbed by the shirt by Óscar Mingueza, an action that continued until the foul was called and the Brazilian reacted by pushing his rival and both were reprimanded.
In the complement, the white dominance was total to achieve the other three goals that rounded out the win.
Source: AP
