Real Madrid 5-1 Celtic: Madrid end CL group stage with home win, Modric & co net

Game is over and the final score is Real Madrid 5-1 Celtic. Here is the match report.

Match Report

Real Madrid might be the only Spanish side in the knockout stages of the Champions League, but they looked imperious as they secured first place in their final group game against Celtic.

It took just five minutes for Los Blancos to open the scoring, as a Moritz Jenz hand was punished by a Luka Modric penalty. The Rodrygo Goes converted from the spot for another handball.

Josip Juranovic could not convert his penalty though, putting it too close to Thibaut Courtois. Celtic’s dedication to pressing high and playing dynamic football was admirable, but also responsible for most of their issues. Los Blancos continually played out of pressure and got to the Celtic box with ease. While the Bhoys did create some chances of their own, Kyogo Furuhashi could not beat Courtois.

Seven minutes into the second half, Marco Asensio arrived at pace onto a Dani Carvajal cutback and finished brilliantly. Fede Valverde then provided Vinicius Junior for a fourth, before curling a lovely shot into the corner himself.

Save a late Jota free-kick that beat Courtois, almost everything went right for Real Madrid, who made Celtic pay for the gulf in class. Pleasing for Carlo Ancelotti will have been the performance of Asensio on his second start and the return of Karim Benzema, who came on for the final 25 minutes without any problems.

Match Events

0' Real Madrid vs Celtic is about to start

5' Penalty Goal! Real Madrid 1-0 Celtic (Modric)

13' CLOSE! Celtic misses a golden chance!

20' Penalty Goal! Real Madrid 2-0 Celtic (Rodrygo)

28' SAVE! Fine stop from world-class Thibaut Courtois

36' Penalty Missed! (x) Courtois saves Celtic  penalty

50' GOAL! Real Madrid 3-0 Celtic (Asensio)

60' GOAL! Real Madrid 4-0 Celtic (Vinicius)

70' GOAL! Real Madrid 5-0 Celtic (Valverde)

83' GOAL! Real Madrid 5-1 Celtic (Jota)

Line-ups

Real Madrid XI: Modric, Kroos, Alaba, Courtois, Carvajal, F Mendy, Asensio, Valverde, Militao, Vinicius, Rodrygo

Subs: Benzema, Nacho, Rudiger, Vazquez, Mariano, Odriozola, Vallejo, Ceballos, Andriy Lunin, Eduardo Camavinga, Luis López

Celtic XI: Hart, Mooy, Carl Starfelt, Josip Juranovic, Daizen Maeda, Greg Taylor, Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O'Riley, Moritz Jenz, Reo Hatate, Liel Abada

Subs: McCarthy, Benjamin Siegrist, James Forrest, Scott Bain, Georgios Giakoumakis, Haksabanovic, Oliver Abildgaard, Anthony Ralston, Jota, David Turnbull, Stephen Welsh, Alexandro Bernabéi