Real Madrid stays in title race as deflected goal gives late win in Vigo

MADRID, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid stayed in the La Liga title race on Friday night thanks to a stroke of luck that earned a 2-1 win away to Celta Vigo.

The game looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw, a result that would have given FC Barcelona the chance to move six points clear at the top of La Liga. But Federico Valverde's 94th-minute shot from outside the Celta penalty area took a huge deflection off Marcos Alonso, leaving home goalkeeper Ionut Radu helpless.

Real Madrid, missing Kylian Mbappe, Eder Militao, Jude Bellingham and David Alaba, took the lead in the 11th minute with an excellent goal from Aurelien Tchouameni, who curled a spectacular shot in from distance.

The lead didn't last long. In the 25th minute, Borja Iglesias leveled for Celta with his first goal against Real Madrid. Williot Swedberg found space behind Trent Alexander-Arnold, turned the full-back and pulled the ball back for Iglesias to sweep past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Tchouameni was Real Madrid's best player in the first half as he broke up play and set his side on the front foot, but Celta was sitting deep and denying Brahim Diaz and Vinicius Jr. space.

Courtois made a flying save to stop Swedberg giving the hosts the lead shortly before the break.

Real Madrid thought they had a penalty late on when Ferran Jutgla handled a cross in the Celta box, but the incident was ruled out for an earlier push on Ilaix Moriba.

Iago Aspas got the ball past Courtois in the closing minutes, but the ball came back off the post, before fortune again smiled on Madrid with Valverde's deflected winner. ■