History says it’s easy, but Real Madrid fans know better this time | OneFootball

Real Madrid will face Celta de Vigo this Sunday with the need to beat them at the Santiago Bernabéu in order to keep real expectations of being LaLiga champions. Carlo Ancelotti's team arrives with 72 points, four short of their age-old rivals, and there are five matches still to be played, including the direct clásico against their arch-rivals on the 11th. The mathematics aren't impossible, but it requires perfection from here onwards. And one small slip can turn the championship into what the season has so far threatened to become: infuriating.

The opponent here has a name, a number on a jersey, and an incentive. Celta de Vigo has 46 points and still has hopes of entering a European competition. It is not a team that is arrogant. It is not an opponent to be gone through the motions against. Aside from that, Celta has already shown this season that it has what it takes to compete with the great clubs. It almost defeated Barcelona recently. And it comes to the Bernabéu knowing that picking up points in Madrid could end up being key to its continental hopes.

A game where there is no margin for error

Ancelotti has made this clear in each press conference. He has not hidden his disappointment with the performance so far: “Professionally, it has been a more difficult season than usual.” The comparison with last season weighs. The coach knows the team is still in the race, but the margin for error is zero. “We can fight for the championship and we’re going to fight until the last second of the last game, no matter what,” he said.

Real Madrid needs to deliver. And it can no longer count on history, nor the jersey's heaviness. Celta is not an ordinary rival by coincidence, but any unbeaten streak must come to an end one day or another. And if Real Madrid doesn't deliver, it might be this Sunday.

Solid streak, not so solid performance

Real Madrid takes inspiration from three successive 1-0 wins. The performance is great, but the outcome raises an eyebrow. It's valid, especially during a dramatic final burst, but it's not necessarily the kind of football that sets fans' hearts aflame. But it gets the job done. Real Madrid have never achieved four successive wins by 1-0 in one edition of LaLiga. Perhaps it's true now. And every victory is gold-dusted.

Their record has 67 goals out of the last 21 matches against Celta, and it contains 19 wins and two draws. One streak that speaks for itself. Such a stat is also deceptive too. The record of longest unbeaten sequence against the same club may go on for longer or collapse.

There's no pressure on Celta to come with, but desire

On the other side, Celta de Vigo comes as a tough guest. It is far from being a passive team. It has ambitions to travel to European competitions and knows that each point can become crucial. And it has a recent past that is shameful, even without wins: it almost beat Barcelona and is well-organized. Ancelotti praised: "Celta is a great team. It is very well organized."

Regardless of all this, Celta has not beaten Real Madrid in LaLiga since 2006. That is 21 games consecutively without winning, the last nine on a sequence of losses. Away, it took just one point from 12 matches at the Bernabéu. All this matters, of course. But it also motivates. The team knows it has a chance to break a historic taboo.

A season still open

Ancelotti summarized the club’s feeling at this moment: “It hasn’t been a spectacular season, but there are still five games left and anything can happen.” The squad has already faced problems, did not perform as expected, and even so is still in the fight. “We’re going to give everything for this.”

You can't reverse what's already happened, but you can change the trajectory of the finish. A series of victories can redefine the picture of the season. Loss, though, can engrave indelibly the character of a disappointing season.