MADRID: Real Madrid jumped to the top of La Liga on Saturday with a 2-0 home victory over in-form Celta Vigo.

Lucas Vazquez headed in a cross from Marco Asensio at the far post in the sixth minute, barely a minute after Real centre back Nacho had cleared a shot by Celta stri­ker Iago Aspas off the line.

He returned the favour in the 53rd minute, laying a diagonal ball into the path of Asensio with the visiting defence in disarray. Asensio drove his shot into the roof of the net.

“We said before the game that if we counter-attacked we could do damage and that’s how it turned out,” said Asensio.

Real rebounded from a draw with promoted Elche on Wednesday to move one point clear at the top of the table, but second-placed Atletico Madrid have played three fewer games.

“After the draw in Elche we wanted to show aggression,” said Vazquez.

With Real Madrid in control, coach Zinedine Zidane took off Asensio, Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos and, right at the end, captain Karim Benzema and brought on Eden Hazard and Fede Valverde, who are returning from injuries, and youngsters Martin Odegaard and Vinicius Junior.

It was Celta’s first loss since Eduardo Coudet took over as manager on November 12, ending a run of seven games unbeaten that had lifted them from the relegation zone to eighth in the table.

Earlier, Sevilla, who could have climbed to third, were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 draw at neighbours Real Betis.

Suso opened the scoring for Sevilla after 48 minutes. Sergio Canales replied with a penalty after 53 minutes.

When the home team won another spot kick in the 75th minute, Nabil Fekir took it but Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saved.

Sevilla dropped to fifth behind Villarreal, who beat Levante 2-1 with Gerard Moreno netting his ninth goal of the season to leave him equal with Celta’s Iago Aspas as the competition’s top scorers.

Moreno added to Fernando Nino’s opener when the Spain striker slotted a right-footed shot just inside the upright in the 54th. Levante substitute Sergio Leon pul­led one back with a header.

Shon Weissman scored in the first half as Valladolid won 1-0 at Getafe and escaped the relegation zone.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2021