Valverde strikes late as Real Madrid snatch 2-1 win at Celta

March 6 : Federico Valverde's deflected effort four minutes into added time earned Real Madrid a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Celta Vigo in LaLiga on Friday, ending a run of two successive defeats and trimming Barcelona's lead to one point.

Aurelien Tchouameni's strike put the visitors ahead in the 11th minute, but Borja Iglesias levelled in the 25th after Williot Swedberg broke down the left and crossed low.

With the contest seemingly drifting towards a draw, captain Valverde let fly from well outside the box and saw his thunderous effort take a decisive deflection, wrongfooting the goalkeeper before nestling the ball into the net to keep Real firmly in the title hunt.

Real, beaten by Osasuna and Getafe in their previous two outings, move to 63 points, one behind Barcelona. The Catalans face Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

"There's still a long way to go in La Liga, with many points still up for grabs. Every match will be a battle. Our performance today was very commendable,” Real manager Alvaro Arbeloa told a press conference.

“Hopefully it will be a victory we remember if we win La Liga. It guides us on the path we want to follow in every match. This is Real Madrid: believing and fighting. Hopefully it will be a turning point."

Celta began at a fierce tempo and almost caught their depleted visitors cold.

Thibaut Courtois produced a fine one-handed save in the fifth minute to turn Iglesias's drive from the edge of the box away as the hosts targeted a Real side missing nine players, including the injured Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo, Eder Militao and Jude Bellingham.

Real responded swiftly. Vinicius Jr struck the left post during a counter-attack before Tchouameni broke the deadlock two minutes later.

After Arda Guler worked a short