Saturday was a bittersweet day for Celta Vigo fans. Their team, despite having good chances to get at least a draw, were outplayed by the Modric-led Real Madrid. On the other hand, Celestes’ fans filled the stadium, scoring a historic entry. Meanwhile, the city still fights to make its way into the list of the 2030 World Cup hosts.

A single Intertoto against Madrid's 105 trophies

15 Champions League titles, 36 La Liga titles, 20 Copa del Rey titles, 13 European Super Cups, 6 European Super Cups, 5 Club World Cups...and that's not all. Faced with this record of 105 titles, Celta Vigo decided to showcase the only trophy they have in their cabinet: the Intertoto of 2000.

The club issued a statement under the slogan Madridistas, there is a title you will never have boasting about the title that Madrid will never show in their museum, as the last edition of the Intertoto Cup was played in 2008 and the tournament was played by the best teams that did not enter the European Cup or the UEFA Cup. The history of Real Club Celta is more modest, but not without greatness, assured the club, inviting all Madrid fans to have their photo taken with the trophy before the match.

Tweet RC Celta https://x.com/rccelta/status/1847687979906867504

— RC Celta (@RCCelta) April 9, 2012

A tough defeat witnessed by the biggest audience since Europe

Several Los Blancos’ as Celestes’ fans took advantage of the invitation from the club, which wanted to make the match as attractive as possible, inviting to perform once again the Fillas de Cassandra, who gave a short but electrifying concert with their rendition of Oliveira dos Cen Anos, the Celeste's centenary anthem. Minutes later, the ball rolled on Abanca Balaídos’ pitch.

Giráldez's team started well, but Swedberg lacked the finishing touch to beat Courtois. The opposite happened to Mbappe, who took advantage of a poor pass from Beltran to put Madrid ahead with a spectacular shot into the top corner in the 20th minute. After the break, Celta levelled the score again thanks to Mingueza's low cross for Swedberg, and this time the young Swede made no mistake.

Ancelotti had to react, and he did so by bringing on Modric. It was a perfect decision, as in one of his first touches the Croatian veteran slipped a pass through for Vinicius, who beat Guaita. Celta rowed for an equaliser, but Bamba, Mingueza, Alfon and Douvikas lacked the finishing touch to break Madrid's streak, as Los Blancos have won every single game at Balaídos since January 2018.

What Celta, or rather its fans, did achieve was a new attendance record with the current capacity of 24,870 fans. 24,445 spectators showed up on Saturday, meaning a 98.3% fill rate. Saturday's numbers were also the best since 4 May 2017, when 26,602 spectators watched from the stands in the 0:1 Celtic defeat to Manchester United in the Europa League semi-finals. Celta's project is finally getting their fans excited.

© RC Celta

Vigo makes a last stand to host the World Cup

Meanwhile, Vigo is still fighting to host the World Cup. Its mayor, Abel Caballero, accused the RFEF and the Galician federation of antiviguism and threatened to go to court. All we received in response to dozens and dozens of pages of data and proposals was an email, by the way, unsigned, in which we were told the venue you represent has not been selected, Caballero complained.

Two days later, the Supreme Sports Council once again showed its support for Vigo’s bid. There have been some candidacies, some venues that are voluntary. The cities have presented themselves and their clubs. We have eleven venues, according to the Federation; according to me, thirteen, with Vigo and Valencia, opined the president of the CSD, José Manuel Uribes.

Vigo could take advantage of the problems the A Coruña City Council is having in securing funding for the new Abanca-Riazor project to take its place, but it does not seem at all easy for Caballero's initiative to come to fruition.