Real Madrid are running out of road in their La Liga defence and have little to no room for error against Celta Vigo.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men headed into the weekend four points behind Barcelona with five matches remaining and still smarting from their dramatic Copa del Rey final defeat to their bitter rivals.
Barca endured a nervy Saturday evening as they came from behind to beat La Liga’s bottom club Valladolid 2-1.
Madrid are counting the cost of their ill-tempered extra time reverse in Seville, while mounting speculation suggests the tactical quandaries Ancelotti has to solve on Sunday will be among his last at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The Sporting News is following the Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo match live, providing score updates and commentary
Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | Where to watch where you are
Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo score
| 1st Half | Goal scorers | |
| Real Madrid | 1 | Guler 33′ |
| Celta Vigo | 0 |
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano
Lineups:
Real Madrid (4-2-3-1, right to left): 1. Thibaut Courtois (GK) — 17. Lucas Vazquez, 35. Raul Asencio, 14. Aurelien Tchouameni, 20. Fran Garcia — 8. Federico Valverde, 19. Dani Ceballos — 15. Arda Guler, 5. Jude Bellingham, 7. Vinicius Jr. — 9. Kylian Mbappe
Celta Vigo (3-4-3, right to left): 13. Vincente Guaita (GK) — 29. Yoel Lago, 32. Javi Rodriguez, 20. Marcos Alonso — 5. Sergio Carreira, 4. Hugo Sotelo, 8. Fran Beltran, 3. Oscar Mingueza — 28. Fer Lopez, 7. Borja Iglesias, 12. Alfon Gonzalez
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Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo live updates, highlights, and commentary
33 mins: GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!! Arda Guler!!!!!!
Ha, on the other hand…
A corner is worked short cleverly from the right and Guler whips a fabulous strike cross goal and into the far corner. The replay shows it might have taken a nick off Alonso.
32 mins: Vini Jr. engineers a little room but batters his shot a long way over. Madrid have established control of this one but it might require then being a bit more patient than that.
28 mins: Rodriguez is okay to continue.
27 mins: Vazquez getting after a ball over the top, Rodriguez gets there first and receives a whack for his troubles. He’ll need a bit of treatment.
24 mins: Vazquez gets forward down the Celta left to whip in a cross, forcing Guaita into a flying punch. Fellow full-back Garcia collects the loose ball and hacks it way over from distance.
22 mins: Carreira cuts in from the right and Gonzalez moves out into the space he’s vacated. No Madrid defenders have gone with the Celta attacker but his cross is wasteful and goes back to Courtois via a deflection off Tchouameni.
15 mins: Things have calmed down a little from that frantic start. Here’s Borja, going a fraction too early down the right on this occasion. But he definitely has his eye on this Madrid high line.
8 mins: Madrid get rid of the next corner and break sharply, with Vinicus leading the charge and Lago almost puts through his own goal. Corner for the hosts and Tchouameni powers over a free header.
LADS, ANYONE FANCY DOING ANY MARKING?!?!?!?!
7 mins: Now Borja springs a flimsy Madrid offside trap. The experience forward takes a poor touch and Asencio can scramble behind. And it’s Alonso again, fabulous save from Courtois! Madrid really need to wake up here.
5 mins: Ohhhh, chance for Celta. One-time Madrid youngster and Barcelona loanee Alonso darts to the near post and heads just wide from a left-wing corner.
3 mins: Vinicius gets to the byline and leaves a sliding challenge from Rodriguez behind. He stands up a cross to the far post, where Guler attempts a spectacular volley. His acrobatic effort wasn’t too far away.
Kickoff
Madrid get us underway and are smoothly into an opening spell of possession against their Europe-chasing opponents.
2 mins before kickoff: The players are out on the field and will pay a moment’s respect to the late Pope Francis before getting underway.
20 mins before kickoff: Jude Bellingham starts today after having a red card for his part in the post-final brouhaha last weekend recinded. You might say Madrid are overdue a big performance from their England star, who is without a goal in his past seven matches.
💯 @BellinghamJude 💯 pic.twitter.com/iltulMjrMz
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 4, 2025
40 mins before kickoff: So here’s the equation for Real Madrid. Barcelona’s win last night means they lead by seven points having played a game more. If Madrid win here, the gap will be four points heading into next weekend’s Clasico in Catalonia. So three points against Celta and Los Blancos have the chance to move within one by beating Barca next weekend. If they fail to win today, Barcelona can become champions by beating their old rivals on May 11. So, yeah, it’s perhaps an understatement to say Carlo Ancelotti’s men need to win,
1 hour before kickoff: Here’s the Celta Vigo starting XI. Madrid-born youngster Fer Lopez makes starts for the visitors, having scored his second La Liga goal in last weekend’s impressive 3-0 win over Villarreal.
𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒐 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒍𝒖𝒃 𝑪𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒂… 𝒙𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒂́𝒏… 🩵#RealMadridCelta ⋄ #LALIGAEASPORTS pic.twitter.com/DvuIfz4JpX
— RC Celta (@RCCelta) May 4, 2025
1 hr 30 mins before kickoff: Here’s how Madrid line up today. Aurelien Tchouameni and Raul Asencio start at centre-back as effectively the only options available to Carlo Ancelotti in that department. Arda Guler makes his 10th La Liga start of the season as Rodrygo sits this one out with illness. Kylian Mbappe starts as expected, having come off the bench to score in the cup final last weekend.
📋✅ Our starting XI
🆚 @RCCeltaEN! pic.twitter.com/oMpmSOJ0Kr— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 4, 2025
2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo in La Liga. Do Madrid have any chance of catching Barcelona at the top? Have they all calmed down after the Copa del Rey final? Is everyone suspended?
Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo kick off time
This La Liga match kicks off in Madrid at 2 p.m. local time.
Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Sun, May 4 | 8:00 a.m. ET |
| Canada | Sun, May 4 | 8:00 p.m. ET |
| UK | Sun, May 4 | 1:00 p.m. BST |
| Australia | Sun, May 4 | 11:00 p.m. AEDT |
| India | Sun, May 4 | 6:30 a.m. IST |
Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo lineups, team news
Ancelotti has big problems in defence, not just for this game but for the duration of the run-in.
Antonio Rudiger, given a six-game ban for throwing an object towards the referee in the Copa final loss to Barcelona, has undergone knee surgery and is out of action anyway. Ferland Mendy has had an operation on a tendon problem, and David Alaba underwent a procedure on his left meniscus.
Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao are also still sidelined, but Lucas Vazquez plays at right-back, his two-game ban for his off-the-field red card being restricted to Copa games.
Eduardo Camavinga has a groin injury and Rodrygo misses out through illness, but Kylian Mbappe is fit to start after coming off the bench in the cup final.
Real Madrid lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Courtois (GK) — Vazquez, Asencio, Tchouameni, Garcia — Valverde, Ceballos — Guler, Bellingham, Vinicius — Mbappe
Real Madrid subs: Lunin (GK), Mestre (GK), Modric, Endrick, Vallejo, Brahim, Youssef, Jacobo
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Carl Starfelt had been close to returning for Celta after missing two league games with a hamstring injury, but he ruptured a tendon in training and will now miss the final games of the season.
Otherwise, Claudio Giraldez has a strong-looking squad at his disposal. Madrid-born youngster Fer Lopez makes starts, having scored his second La Liga goal in last weekend’s impressive 3-0 win over Villarreal.
Celta Vigo lineup (3-4-3, right to left): Guaita (GK) — Lago, Javi Rodriguez, Alonso — Carreira, Sotelo, Beltran, Mingueza — Lopez, Iglesias, A. Gonzalez
Celta Vigo subs:Villar (GK), Moriba, Aspas, Cervi, Losada, Jailson, Duran, Swedbergh, Ristic, Alvarez, Dominguez, D. Rodriguez
Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this La Liga match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
