Among many other things, Vigo is known for its fanciful Christmas lighting, which Mayor Abel Caballero has been in charge of promoting until exhaustion. Maxi Gómez knows it well, who played there between 2017 and 2019, and was in charge of turning it off with a little candy that certified the comeback che and puts a Valencia in orbit that looks again at Europe and has already chained five games without losing (three draws and two wins).
CEL
VAL
Celtic
Hard; Kevin, Aidoo, Araujo, Galán; Beltrán (Nolito, 58 ‘); Brais, Denis Suárez, Cervi (Solari, 58 ‘); Santi Mina, Iago Aspas (Tapia, 15).
Valencia
Cillessen; Piccini (Lato, 73 ‘), Alderete, Guillamón, Gayà; Carlos Soler, Wass, Koba (Racic, 51 ‘), Hugo Duro (Musah, 84’); Hélder Costa (Guedes, 83 ‘), Maxi Gómez (Marcos André, 83’).
Goals
1-0 M. 10 Iago Aspas. 1-1 M. 18 Hugo Duro. 1-2 M. 52 Maxi Gómez.
Referee
From Burgos Bengoetxea (Basque Committee). TA: Beltrán (9 ‘), Iago Aspas (12’) and Nolito (95 ‘) / Maxi Gómez (37’) and Gayà (51 ‘).
Incidents
Balaídos. 11,361 spectators.
The Celtic, who loses Blades Due to injury, he watches the ghosts of descent haunt again. Playing at home continues to be a real headache. And the lights are no excuse.
Gonçalo Guedes was the great sacrificed in the eleven of Bordalás in Balaídos. The Alicante coach trusted the former law and opted for Maxi to face Celta. In Valencia things are not going well for him (he adds only 4 goals in 2021), but the coach must have thought that the forward would leave hypermotivated in what was his home. He was completely right.
Balaídos, however, continues to be ‘Aspas territory’ and it was demonstrated again by the Galician ahead of his team on the scoreboard at ten minutes after a child loss by Alderete at the exit of the ball. Within the area Aspas did what he wanted to his pair: bicycle, feint and toe to finish sending the ball to the net.
It was all good news for Celta after an overwhelming start. Until in the celebration of both his own Aspas, who forced his fifth yellow with mischief, put his hand to his thigh and immediately afterwards had to leave his place for Tapia in the field due to muscular problems. The Peruvian had been relegated to the substitution in recent games due to his irregular performance and was later to be one of the culprits of the Valencian draw. Dituro wanted to play Ter Stegen inside the area and gave the goal to Hugo Duro with the passivity of the midfielder. From there, the party lowered the revolutions.
After the break, Celta stepped on the accelerator again, with a great Denis Suarez that created a lot of danger in transitions. Every time they stole the ball, the celestial ones came out like a motorcycle. Bordalás detected him and brought Racic in through Koba. And it worked, because Valencia managed to turn the game around with a bit of Maxi Gomez, who apologized after scoring, after a fantastic robbery by Gayà, who is always there when he is needed.
Coudet’s response was to put Nolito and Solari in. Celta improved, although not enough to end up surrendered to the tricks of the Bordalás libretto. When their teams get ahead it is difficult to get their hands on them. It happened once more.