Celta Vigo made it back-to-back defeats for Real Madrid as they stunned the Santiago Bernabeu with a 2-1 victory in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final.
Cristiano Ronaldo started to make his first appearance in the competition for two years, but Zinedine Zidane’s side – aiming to bounce back from a dramatic late loss at Sevilla that halted their Spanish record unbeaten run – were unable to find a way a way through before the interval.
When the breakthrough arrived it fell Celta’s way, Iago Aspas’ 15th goal of the season sparking a crazy six-minute period.
Marcelo’s spectacular volley levelled matters, but Madrid switched off from the restart and Jonny was the gleeful beneficiary – condemning Zidane to his first home defeat since last February’s LaLiga derby reverse against Atletico Madrid.
In a span of just three days, Real Madrid have suffered as many defeats as they had throughout the whole of last year, after back-to-back losses to Sevilla in LaLiga and Celta Vigo in the Copa Del Rey.
Zidane’s men were defeated on just two occasions by Atletico Madrid in the league and Wolfburg in the Champions League last year.
The Merengues then embarked on a record-breaking 40-match unbeaten run, which was abruptly brought to an end when lost 2-1 at the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan against Sevilla on Sunday.
Three days later, Los Blancos suffered yet another defeat when Celta Vigo goals by Iago Aspas and Jonny Castro handed the visitors a memorable domestic cup victory.
In doing so, it is the first time Real Madrid have lost two matches in a row under the tutelage of French tactician since taking over from Rafael Benitez just over a year ago.
If history is anything to go by, Real Madrid will have a fight on their hands if they are to progress to the semi-final stage of the Copa del Rey.
Los Blancos has been eliminated from the Copa Del Rey on the two other occasions they lost 1-2 in the first-leg in their own backyard.
The first time they had lost 1-2 in the first-leg back in 1995 against Valencia, Real Madrid failed to fire in the second-leg, eventually losing the tie 2-4 on aggregate.
More recently, Real Madrid, under Jose Mourinho, succumbed to a lacklustre draw in the second-leg at the Camp Nou after two goals in the second half from Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo’s early strike against Barcelona back in 2012.
COMMENTS