Alaves Beat Celta Vigo 1-0 To Go Top Of La Liga Table

By Joshua Walters  

Deportivo Alaves continued their impressive start to the 2018/19 La Liga campaign with a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo that puts them on top of the table.

Tomas Pina scored the match day-nine game’s only goal, and the win at the Estadio de Balaidos on Friday put Abelardo Fernandez Antuna’s side on 17 points.

The win follows another notable victory for the modest club from Spain's northern Basque Country who beat European Champions 1-0 in the previous fixture.

Sevilla have dropped off the top spot, but will overtake Alaves should they beat Barcelona away on Saturday, with the defending champions also knowing a win would put them top.

Real Madrid host Levante and can go top of the log, with Atletico Madrid and Espanyol also within three points adrift the top.

Victor Laguardia saw referee Carlos Del Cerro’s yellow card in the 7th minute, Manu Garcia failed to put the visitors ahead in the 22nd minute by blowing wide from close range, ten minutes before Sofiane Boufal wasted Celta Vigo’s first real chance by missing the right post by inches.

The hosts’ Iago Aspas rattled a shot into the right post in the 51st minute before Del Cerro showed the yellow card to Gustavo Daniel Cabral in the 68th minute for a heavy challenge.

Tomas Pina broke the deadlock seconds later by feeding on Laguardia’s pass to unleash a strong shot from close range into the back of the net, leaving the goalkeeper helpless.

Alaves’ Jonathan Calleri received the yellow card in the 64th minute, Sofiane Boufal shot a volley towards the left side of the goal but saw goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco alert to his efforts.

Brais Mendez forced a nice save from Fernando Pacheco with a decent strike in the 73rd minute, Tomas Pina registered another booking for Alaves in the 88th minute, before Celta Vigo’s Andrew Hjulsager also received a booking a minute into extra time for a harsh tackle.