A double from 21-year old Williot Swedberg earned Celta Vigo a shock 2-0 victory over 9-man Real Madrid, giving Os Celestes their first win at the Estadio Bernabéu in nearly two decades.
Having produced a fantastic performance in midweek to emphatically defeat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 away from home and ease the pressure on manager Xabi Alonso, Los Blancos were looking for another victory to extend their winning run against Celta in all competitions to 12 games and move to within one point of La Liga leaders Barcelona. However, red cards to Fran García and Álvaro Carreras helped to give Madrid their first defeat at home of the season and meant that the security of Alonso’s position has been firmly called into question once more.
In an opening half an hour which largely lacked goalmouth action, Celta started strongly and sought to capitalise on a lethargic start by the hosts. The high line of Madrid’s makeshift defence, which included Raúl Asencio at right-back and Carreras as a left-sided centre back, was an area which Celta looked to expose on several occasions early on through Pablo Durán, who forced Fran into a last-ditch block inside the opening ten minutes. Alonso’s defensive struggles were compounded when Éder Militão was forced off with a hamstring issue after 24 minutes, adding him to an extensive injury list which includes Dani Carvajal, Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Madrid did improve after Militão’s substitution, with Arda Güler scuffing an effort wide when off-balance from twelve yards out, and Vinícius Júnior, now without a goal contribution in his last eleven league matches, forcing Ionuț Radu in the Celta goal to make a sharp save down to his left shortly before the interval.
If Madridistas were expecting their side to produce a more encouraging performance after the break, they were to be left severely disappointed, and 10 minutes of chaos at the beginning of the second half set the tone for the rest of the match. Only 8 minutes after being brought on as a half-time substitute, Swedberg produced a beautifully deft backheel to give the away side the lead, diverting a Zaragoza cross into the bottom corner to net his first goal of the season.
Real’s task of getting something from the game became even more difficult after Fran’s moment of madness in the 64th minute, picking up his second yellow card in as many minutes for a late challenge on Swedberg.
Tensions in the stadium rapidly began to escalate, as virtually every decision made by referee Alejandro Quintero González was greeted with boos and whistles by the home support. Emotions on the touchline also started to flare, as Alonso found himself booked for his complaints. The anger of those in the stands and on the touchline towards the officials did, however, appear to give the Madrid players a new lease of life, and the home side looked far more threatening in attack after going down to 10 players.
Kylian Mbappé, who was anonymous for large parts of the contest, went close to levelling the scoring but could only lift a lob over Radu onto the roof of the net, before Gonzalo García spurned a golden opportunity five minutes from time as he headed narrowly wide at the far post.
Any chance of a Madrid fightback, however, vanished in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, as the hosts were reduced to 9 men. Carreras was awarded two yellow cards in the space of 10 seconds by Quintero González – the first for dissent and the second for abusive language – as tensions threatened to boil over inside the Bernabéu.
Rodrygo and Federico Valverde were both booked for their remonstrations while Endrick, sat on the bench as an unused substitute, became the third Los Blancos player of the night to be shown a red card.
The visitors took advantage of their hosts’ capitulation, doubling their lead one minute later as Iago Aspas, making his 400th La Liga appearance, played in Swedberg for his and Celta’s second of the night. The Swede displayed excellent composure to round Courtois and dribble into an empty net, sparking scenes of jubilation among the travelling support.
It was not the preparation that Alonso and his team would have wanted ahead of a crucial fixture in the Champions League at home to Manchester City on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Swedberg’s double marked a historic night for Claudio Giráldez’s side, who moved up to 10th in the league standings and thoroughly deserved their first league win over Real since May 2014, and their first away from home since November 2006.
Match Officials: Referee: Alejandro Quintero González; Video Assistant Referee: Jorge Figueroa Vázquez; Assistant Referee 1: Álvaro Granel Peiró; Assistant Referee 2: José Francisco García Lozano; Fourth Official: Jose David Martínez Montalbán; Assistant VAR Official: Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez
Real Madrid Lineup: Courtois; Fran García, Carreras, Militão (subbed for Rüdiger, 24’), Asencio (subbed for Rodrygo, 54’); Bellingham, Tchouaméni, Güler (subbed for Gonzalo García, 74’), Valverde; Vinícius Jr, Mbappé
Celta Vigo Lineup: Radu; Alonso, Starfelt, Rodríguez; Mingueza (subbed for Ferran Jutglà, 71’), Moriba, Román (subbed for Beltrán, 83’), Carreira; Zaragoza (subbed for Rueda, 71’), Durán (subbed for Swedberg, 46’); Iglesias (subbed for Aspas, 88’)