In Celta Vigo's mission to avoid relegation, they once again leaned on their talismanic figure of Iago Aspas as the forward scored a brace in a 3-1 victory over Real Sociedad.
The two sides had to play in torrential conditions at Balaidos and La Real even took the lead through Willian Jose in the 31st minute. Lucas Olaza's high foot caught Mikel Oyarzabal and the referee awarded a penalty, though he did consult VAR for a couple of minutes. Willian Jose then stepped up and sent Ruben Blanco the wrong way.
Five minutes into the second half, Aspas won a penalty for Celta. The 31-year-old was brought down by Geronimo Rulli and he sent his spot kick to the right, with Rulli diving the right way, but it squirmed in underneath the Argentine.
The game seemed to turn when Willian Jose received a controversial red card in the 57th minute. He seemed to swivel his upper body and aim his elbow in the direction of Okay Yokuslu. It was not malicious, but it was certainly stupid from La Real's No.12.
Celta were then able to take the lead 12 minutes later, again through Aspas. Ryad Boudebouz, who made a real impression after coming on as a substitute, used a piece of skill before playing a through ball to the underlapping Hugo Mallo and the right-back's cross was just beyond the reach of Rulli as Aspas was there to head in from a couple of yards out. Aspas took his shirt off whilst celebrating and received a yellow card, which means that he will miss Celta's next match away at Atletico Madrid.
The victory was sealed in stoppage time as Maxi Gomez scored his 11th goal of the season. Aspas was involved yet again as he picked out the oncoming Boudebouz and the Algerian played a reverse pass for Gomez to fire past Rulli from the centre of the box.
It is clear that Celta are going to try and fight their way out of trouble with goals, having scored nine in their last three games. Incredibly, seven of those goals have been either scored or assisted by Aspas, who has not long come back from injury. The Galicians have now picked up seven points out of a possible nine in their last games and they jump up to 16th in the table, two points clear of the drop zone. La Real, meanwhile, remain 9th, five points off of seventh-placed Alaves, likely the final spot for European qualification.