Explosive first half gives Athletic first victory of the season at Celta
Athletic Club picked up their 1st win under Edin Terzic with a 2-0 away victory over Celta Vigo, using a sharp first-half burst to settle the game and ease some early pressure around their slow start.
With just 1 point separating the sides before kick-off, both teams made 7 changes to their starting line-ups in search of a lift. For a while, it looked as if Celta's reshuffle might pay off first.
Match highlight
Ferran Jutgla chased down a long ball and squared for Williot Swedberg, but the finish was too close to Unai Simon, who gathered without too much trouble.
Oihan Sancet tested Ionut Radu twice in quick succession, while Aymeric Laporte also headed narrowly wide. Those were warnings Celta did not take seriously enough.
In the 20th minute, Athletic punished them. Alex Berenguer drove into the box, twisted onto his shooting angle and bent a fine finish beyond the goalkeeper for his first goal since December.
Only seconds after the restart, Athletic pressed high, won the ball back and attacked again. Inaki Williams found Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta, whose clever pass released Robert Navarro, and he finished low into the corner to make it 2-0.
Celta looked rattled, and they were fortunate not to fall even further behind before the break, with Radu producing a good save to deny Williams.
The home side did at least come close to pulling one back before half-time when Jutgla's header from a corner hit the bar, but they still went in 2-0 down.
Claudio Giraldez reacted aggressively at the break. He made 4 substitutions in an attempt to force some kind of comeback, but despite all the changes, Celta still struggled to create much. In fact, Athletic had the 1st big opening of the 2nd half too, only for a nice move to end with Sancet failing to connect properly.
Celta's best later chance fell to Carl Starfelt just before the hour. He got on the end of a corner at close range, but his header drifted just wide. That was one of the few moments where the home side really looked like scoring.
Nico Williams curled one over, was denied a penalty after coming on, and then missed another good opening. But by then, the result no longer really felt in danger.
The Basque side saw it out with little drama and avoided going winless through their opening 3 LaLiga matches for the first time since 2011.
Just as importantly, it was only their 2nd clean sheet in 31 league games, a stat Terzic will probably appreciate almost as much as the 3 points.
Celta, meanwhile, are still waiting to get moving, though their start may not be as alarming as it looks. Last season they finished 6th despite failing to win any of their first 9 matches.
