Madrid keep pressure on Barcelona

MADRID, May 4

Kylian Mbappe scored two goals as Real Madrid fought off a late comeback attempt from Celta Vigo to secure a 3-2 win on Sunday and stay within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona, whom they visit in next weekend’s “El Clasico”. Defending champions Real’s fourth win in a row kept their title dream alive with four matches to go in the Spanish top flight, while Celta Vigo remained seventh after their third loss in four league games.

“The most important thing was the win. We played a good first half, but then we fell apart... they are a great team and they put us in trouble,” midfielder Federico Valverde said.

Real dominated the first hour of the game as Arda Guler broke the deadlock shortly after the half-hour mark. Mbappe doubled Real’s lead six minutes later.

Mbappe got his second goal three minutes into the second half, the 26-year-old finding the bottom-right corner to score his 24th league goal of the season. That is one less than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, who leads the scoring charts.

But Celta Vigo were unwilling to give up. The visitors began a fightback with a Javi Rodriguez goal 69 minutes in, before Williot Swedberg scored Celta Vigo’s second goal seven minutes later.

Raphinha and Fermin Lopez saved Barcelona from a stumble at relegated Valladolid. Halftime substitute Raphinha cancelled out Valladolid’s first-half opener in the 54th minute. Lopez continued his quietly superb season by bagging the winner six minutes later for a 2-1 road victory.