Real – Celtic 5-1: Comfortable and beautiful in the ’16’ of the Champions League

Real entered the ‘Bernabeu’ and suffered two consecutive negative results (a defeat against Leipzig and a draw against Girona) and it was Celtic who paid the price. The Spanish and European champions impressed against Giorgos Giakoumakis’ side (he came on as a second-half substitute) and clinched a convincing 5-1 win from five different goalscorers to secure first place in the Champions’ last 16 League to qualify the 6th group.

It is worth noting that Carlo Ancelotti made history with this result after surpassing Sir Alex Ferguson’s record and becoming the manager with the most Champions League wins, 103 against the Scot’s 102.

The match

The first half was a case of…penalties, in total three penalties were awarded in the first 35 minutes with Real being the big winner after not only scoring two of their own but also not allowing Celtic to celebrate from the penalty spot . It was Luka Modric who scored the goal, with the Croatian putting the ball in the net in the 6th minute with a penalty that Valverde won against Jens to make it 1-0.

This was the 35th goal of his career in white and the 9th in the Champions League, with the Croatian becoming the oldest player to score a penalty in the Champions League at the age of 37 years and 54 days, a corresponding record of Burak Yilmaz recorded who he made it with Lille against Chelsea in March 2022 (aged 36 years and 244 days).

Celtic then tried to react but Furuhashi and Hatate couldn’t finish their shots well, with Ancelotti’s side missing a great chance through Vinicius in the 19th minute to score the second goal two minutes later.

This time it was Rodrigo who won it with a shot stopped by O’Reilly’s hand. The Brazilian striker made it 2-0 as Real became the third team in Champions League history to win two penalties (after Atletico and Napoli) in their first 20-minute game and the only one to hit both shots.

In the 22nd minute, Vinicius missed another big chance to be crowned top scorer while Celtic touched on goal just after the half-hour. The Celts won a penalty when Juranovic was brought down by Mendy. The Scottish champions’ right-back found the net but Courtois proved to be his guardian angel, diving into his right corner and making an impressive save.

But unlike in the first part, where Celtic were competitive and could have been luckier against the 2-0, in the second they surrendered unconditionally to the wild attacking mood of the Merengues, who easily cleared three goals in 20 minutes to win and place first in the group.

In the 51st minute, Carvajal advanced and turned the ball before heading for a corner, with Asensio intercepting the shot on the move with his left to make it 3-0, while ten minutes later Valverde turned the ball high into the box and Vinicius ensured the lead to 4:0.

In the 71st minute, the merengue show in the Scots’ room ended with Valverde’s beautiful goal (with a right-footed shot from inside the penalty area), with which he scored his 8th Champions League goal of the year to make it 5-1 , with Celtic scoring the consolation goal in the 84th minute from a direct free-kick from Zota.

It is noted that Giakoumakis got game time by coming on in place of Furuhashi in the 63rd minute (in the 65th minute he had a chance to score with a powerful shot that Courtois saved), while Benzema also came on Real coming out of injury.

REAL: Courtois, Carvajal (64′ Bathqueth), Militao (73′ Vaguejo), Alaba (66′ Nacho), Mendy, Valverde, Kroos (66′ Thembayos), Modric, Asensio, Rodrigo, Vinicius (64′ Benzema)

CELTIC: Hart, Juranovic, Starfelt, Jens, Taylor, Mooy (64′ Turnbull), O’Reilly, Abada (64′ Zota), Hatate (82′ Bildgaard), Maeda (64′ Haskabanovic), Furuhashi (63′ Iakumakis)

The results of the 6th round:

• Real – Celtic 5-1 (6′ Penalty Modric, 21′ Penalty Rodrigo, 51′ Asensio, 61′ Vinicius, 71′ Valverde / 84′ Zota)
• Shakhtar – Leipzig 0-4 (10′ Encuncu, 50′ Silva, 63′ Somboslai, 68′ Olmo)