Celta Vigo 2 Granada 1: Aspas fires charge for Europe

An Iago Aspas brace kept Celta Vigo’s push to qualify for Europe on course as they defeated Granada 2-1 at home in La Liga on Monday.

Aspas opened the scoring from the spot 16 minutes into the game at Estadio de Balaidos, Cristiano Biraghi having brought down John Guidetti inside the area.

The struggling visitors levelled in the 69th minute, Youssef El-Arabi deflecting home Fran Rico’s speculative effort, with Celta goalkeeper Ruben Blanco beaten at his near post by the unexpected contact.

Aspas restored his team’s lead just seven minutes later, though, getting in behind the Granada backline and gathering a clever pass from Nolito to beat Andres Fernandez from a difficult angle.

The results means Celta climb above Athletic Bilbao and into fifth, four points back from fourth-placed Villarreal, who occupy the final Champions League qualification place.

Granada meanwhile stay 17th, just one point clear of the relegation zone.