4-0: Real Madrid likes itself and signs its first victory in the Champions League

Real Madrid scored and won their first Champions League group stage victory in 665 days. The Whites, with goals from Weir, Bruun, Møller and Linda, easily defeated a Celtic team that barely reached the rival area and thus added three important points to fight for a place in the European quarterfinals competition.

After the derby draw, Real Madrid needed to continue their run of victories before the final week to avoid suffering another European disaster. Celtic, who like White fell on the first day of the Champions League, will test White in Di Stéfano. Although that threat to their rivals would not last long for the Scots. From the first minute, Toril’s team looked connected to the game, coming from the right wing with a very vertical Athenea who was ahead of Real Madrid’s first two chances.

And the third time is the charm. Once again Caroline Weir took out her magic wand to light the white team’s path to victory. The ’10’, from the edge of the area, invented a shot with his left foot, with enough thread to put it away from the goalkeeper and make it 1-0 in the 7th minute. Just like on Sunday against Atlético de Madrid, Toril’s team was on top of the scoreboard before the 10th minute, with the only difference being that this time, Real Madrid would overwhelm the opposition with its pace of play.

Elena Sadiku’s team barely crossed the middle of the field and when they did, mistakes played tricks on them, preventing them from getting into the opposition area at any point in the first 45 minutes. Something that Real Madrid achieved, adding a total of eight shots on goal, but was unable to convert any of them into a new goal. Linda Caicedo had one of the clearest chances on a counterattack from her own half, but the decision to give the ball to Redondo instead of daring to shoot doomed the chance to nothing. Added to this were some shots by Olga, Leupolz or Redondo, all of which had the same ending: Daugherty’s gloves, which allowed his team to reach the break with only one goal against.

If Celtic are bottled up in the first half, the script will be maintained for the rest of the game. Leupolz would give the first warning a minute after the restart, but once again his too-focused shot easily went into the goalkeeper’s hands. However, after a few minutes, it was the post that kept the visitors in the game. Linda Caicedo finished the play and as the entire stadium sang her team’s goal, the sound of the stick returned to silence in the stands.

The new opportunity wasted by Real Madrid and Celtic’s first arrival at the rival goal, although Lawton’s shot went straight into the side of the net, sparked movement in the local bench. With Eva Navarro and Bruun, the team renewed its strength and the second goal of the afternoon came from them. The Murcian winger hit the ball with music in the 73rd minute and Bruun flashed a flat shot for a 2-0 lead that would continue to grow late in the game.

From the boot of Caroline Møller, who entered the field after the hour mark, it would have been 3-0. The Dane received the ball in the three-quarter zone and, without thinking twice when he saw Daugherty in front of him, he put together a right shot to beat the goalkeeper and score his 24th goal for Real Madrid in the 80th minute. The last sentence comes just two minutes later. If last week they faced a penalty match that meant a draw, this time there was no discussion when Linda Caicedo fell to the spot. The Colombian took charge and, although there was suspense due to goalkeeper intervention, the ball went into the net with a final score of 4-0.

With this victory, Real Madrid broke its bad streak in the group stage of the Champions League and added its first victory since December 22, 2022 against Vllaznia. The silence gives Toril’s team a break to face the final league game at the weekend against Madrid CFF before the national team’s first break of the season.