Rafa Benitez has been sacked by Celta Vigo and, while one-time Celtic ace Carl Starfelt did his best to keep the manager in a job, his former Newcastle United defender Javi Manquillo certainly didn’t live up to his end of the bargain.
There is no shame in losing at the Santiago Bernabeu, of course. But it was the manner of Celta Vigo’s loss away to Real Madrid on Sunday – the final act of Rafa Benitez’s rather miserable spell at the La Liga strugglers – which had Spanish football expert Terry Gibson wondering how things had managed to unravel so dreadfully.
Carl Starfelt, the defender signed from Scottish champions Celtic last summer, must have felt as if he was repelling the Real Madrid tide all on his own at times, the Swede resembling Jon Snow holding up his sword valiantly as Ramsay Bolton’s army bore down from all angles.
“Starfelt was the only exception,” Gibson tells El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast. “I thought he was magnificent at the back on his own.”
Rafa Benitez sacked by La Liga strugglers Celta Vigo
The one-time Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon forward was far less complimentary with regards to Javi Manquillo’s performance, however.
Manquillo, reunited with his former Newcastle United boss Benitez during the January transfer window, was left looking a little silly as Real Madrid’s set-piece prowess proved to be Celta’s undoing.
“Two goals came from (Antonio) Rudiger’s headers from corners,” Gibson adds.
“Manquillo wraps his arms around Nacho but not very hard. The ball goes over Nacho’s head, Rudiger wins the header and Vinicius taps it in. And Manquillo is standing there with his arm around Nacho, it’s like he’s posing for a picture with a fan!
“The lack of desire… It really irritated me. A team in a relegation battle and the lack of desire…”
Carl Starfelt can’t do it all on his own
Benitez was finally put out of his misery on Tuesday afternoon, the former Real, Chelsea, Napoli, Liverpool and Inter Milan coach losing 15 of his 33 games in charge. A win percentage of just 27 per cent at Celta Vigo was Benitez’s lowest since a brief spell with Rayo Vallecano in the 1990s, and even worse than his dreadful stint in the Everton hotseat.
Celta remain outside of the relegation zone, but the gap between themselves and 18th place Cadiz was cut to two after the latter secured a shock win over Atletico Madrid.
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