He Celtic the season began Rafael Benitez with a resounding victory over Al Nassr (5-0), which they destroyed in the second half when their rival was left with ten after a harsh dismissal of center-back Al Amri (min.51).
Benítez showed his cards in his first game of the summer. The Madrid coach wants a team that defends the lines together, that’s fine. He did not think to give the ball to Al Nassr, a rival of little brilliance despite the presence of brozovic, Cristiano Ronaldo or the brazilian talisca.
Celtic
50
AL NASSR
Celta Vigo: Ivan Villar; Kevin Vázquez, Aidoo, Carlos Domínguez, Fontán; Carles Pérez, Beltrán, Hugo Sotelo; Blades and Patience. Rubén Blanco (ps), Cervi, Gael Alonso, Miguel Baeza, Tapia, Unai Núñez, Sergio Carreira, Larsen, Miguel Rodríguez, Koke Carrillo (ps), Domínguez and Hugo Álvarez also played.
Al Nasr FC: Nawaf; Sultan, Al Ajami, Al Amri, Konan; Ghareeb, Brozovic, Khaibari, Khaled; Talisca and Cristiano Ronaldo. They also played Mishari, Qasim, Madu and Adam.
The objectives: 1-0: Gael Alonso, min.57; 2-0: Larsen, min.61; 3-0: Miguel Rodríguez, min.70; 4-0: Larsen, min.72; 5-0: Larsen, min.74
Referee: Antonio Nobre (Portuguese). He sent off Al Amri (min.51) with a straight red card. In addition, he advised Celta’s Tapia (min.88).
Incidents: Friendly match played at Algarve stadium (Portugal).
see the match sheet
The first celestial eleven has little to do with the one that will start LaLiga. Except Iago Aspas, carles perez, Joseph Aidoo -if it doesn’t appear-, Fran Beltran and ivan villarthe rest of the selection struggled to repeat possession against Osasuna on August 13.
Up front, Benítez has less than a month to polish his project, but the rivalry against the Arab team showed that Celta continue to be vulnerable in the air, their major deficit in recent years. Building a strong tactical block is the obsession of Carlos Carvalhal’s replacement.
The first two occasions of al nassr they came like this At first, Ivan Villar failed at the start and from the header christian he went out; In the second, after a big defensive mismatch with the central defenders, the Portuguese star showed that he no longer had the flair he had before: his header, in an excellent position, went wide after a good cross from at full-back. Sultan.
Between the two, Iago Aspas also enjoyed a clear chance to put his team ahead in the 14th minute but his dive before Nawaf’s departure, after a great recovery from Hugo Sotelo to the opponent’s ball, fell on the post.
In the final period, both teams once again held the goal. El Nassr with a powerful shot from Brazilian Talisca was cleared with difficulty by Iván Villar, before Carles Pérez stuck his leg together to take a powerful shot from the side which was deflected by a defender with his body.
Benítez made a move at halftime. He lined up another completely different eleven, and his team quickly found themselves (min.51) with a tough dismissal of centre-back Al Amri paving the way for their victory.
From then on, his team’s dominance was complete, and six minutes later, youth squad player Gael Alonso opened the scoring with a superb header after a corner kick. Before that, Miguel Rodríguez already tested the Arab goalkeeper with a long shot.
At 1-0, Celta did not jump and it did not take long to sentence the rivalry. The Swede Larsen, clearly offside, signed the second, again with a header, after a good cross from Mingueza. The Nordic striker, the bet of Luis Campos last season, grabbed the double soon after but Nawaf stopped him with a great stretch.
Al Nassr quickly threw down his arms, and the blue sky closed out their strike with goals from Miguel Rodríguez and two more Larsens, all in just five minutes.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
