Celta Vigo kept waiting for first win as Real Betis secure draw at Balaidos

Celta Vigo and Real Betis played out an entertaining early-season La Liga encounter on Wednesday, with the match ending 1-1 at Balaidos.

The match, brought forward from MD6 due to both clubs being involved in the league phase of the Europa League, saw many changes made from the weekend. Celta handed a first start to Borja Iglesias against his former club, while Alvaro Valles made his first appearance since making his long-awaited return to Betis earlier in the summer.

The first half was largely dominated by Betis, who came close to scoring early on when Rodrigo Riquelme saw his effort cleared off the line by Celta defender Hugo Ristic. But fortunately for Manuel Pellegrini’s side, they managed to break the deadlock with seconds to go before the interval as Marc Bartra headed home from a Giovani Lo Celso corner.

However, Betis’ lead did not last long, as Celta equalised a mere three minutes into the second period. Valles did not deal with a corner from the right as his punch landed on the left foot of Hugo Alvarez, whose effort from the edge of the penalty area went into the back of the net through the goalkeeper’s legs.

Valles did not cover himself in glory at that moment, but he did make a big save to deny Ferran Jutgla late on, for what would have been his first goal for the club since joining from Club Brugge.

Where does this result leave Celta and Betis in the standings?

The result sees Betis leapfrog Espanyol into sixth place in the La Liga table at these early stages of the new season, while Celta – who are still without a win after three matches – have moved up to 13th in the standings.

Both are back in action this weekend, as Celta host Villarreal and Betis take on Athletic Club, both on Sunday.