ivan villar: Hero in two acts. First, he stopped Stuani’s penalty shot that the VAR ordered to repeat and the Uruguayan converted on the second attempt. The homegrown goalkeeper was not disappointed and in the 96th minute made one of the best saves of his career to prevent Joel Roca’s goal. He received a significant reprimand from several teammates for playing long in the final stretch.
Hugo Mallo: Job. Every time he was overwhelmed he chose to be missing. He ended up suffering in the side centers. Little presence in attack.
Aidoo: Security. He led the defense bordering on defensive excellence. In the last minutes he joined some action as a center forward.
unai nunez: Positive and negative anticipation. Very plugged in, the Basque central defender added several recoveries in the opposite field. He entered the area early on Stuani’s first penalty kick and the VAR caught him.
Javi Galan: A rocket until it went too far. The left-back led his team for an hour. His aggressiveness and explosiveness allowed him to steal the ball from Tsygankov before assisting Carles Pérez in the Celtic goal. His characteristic dribbling into him has him becoming more and more perfected. His recital stopped short with the innocent penalty on Tsygankov. That failure took its toll on him mentally.
Wall: Impeccable as a defensive midfielder. He displayed himself with a physical display that lasted from the initial whistle until the last minute. Accurate with the ball. This performance calls into question the role of substitute for Fran Beltrán that has corresponded to him for a year and a half.
Gabri Veiga: He hasn’t just met again. The couple of rides that he tried breaking lines failed to complete. He brushed the goal in an attempted header that Miguel Gutiérrez frustrated in extremis. He recreated excessively in some intervention.
Oscar Rodriguez: Commitment. Although things don’t end up working out for him, he gave it his all as a left-wing midfielder and showed he had good legs. His good treatment of the ball was marred by a couple of difficult-to-understand turnovers. He looked for the goal with a lot of danger in a long free kick.
carles perez: The best of the party. His imbalance in recent days has no ceiling. He scored with luck, because his shot touched Oriol Romeu, and he had the double from a cross shot that Gazzaniga took from him. He slotted a dream pass to Larsen over the defense that left the Norwegian in front of the Argentinian goalkeeper for Girona.
Miguel Rodriguez: Naughty. The youth squad player was not weighed down by the responsibility and injected his verticality into the Celtic left wing. As in San Mamés, he put up a great cross, but on this occasion Miguel Gutiérrez prevented Veiga from materializing it. He ran out of gas in the middle of the second half.
larsen: His qualities are as evident as his lack of goals. He wasted three good chances to score. In the first he finished off in the air, in the second he narrowly missed the definition after a brilliant ride and in the third he couldn’t with Gazzaniga in one-on-one. He went to the desperate bench.
Cervi (by Miguel Rodríguez): Imprecise. He was not fine with the ball. In his most outstanding intervention, his compatriot Gazzaniaga responded with success to a shot placed by the Argentine from outside the area.
Iago Aspas (by Veiga): A lo Cid Campeador. Despite not being able to play, he leaked a sensational pass to Cervi in the quarter of an hour that he played.
Seferovic (by Larsen): Marked. A part of the stands took it with the Swiss reproaching him for lack of attitude. The public’s reaction is somewhat surprising if one takes into account that the striker was one of the most outstanding players in Celta’s previous match in Balaídos.