The match got off to an awful start for Lille, as in the opening minute, centre-back Alexsandro’s errant pass went straight to Borja Iglesias, who laid the ball off for captain Iago Aspas to square for Williot Swedberg to apply the simplest of finishes.
Goalkeeper Berke Ozer was the next Lille player to have a jittery moment as his attempted clearance was charged down by Swedberg, but the ball ricocheted away from the Swede.
The French side’s evening duly got worse when Nabil Bentaleb went off after landing on his right shoulder, and with limited midfield options on the bench, Aissa Mandi, usually a defender, was brought on in his Algerian compatriot’s place.
Celta continued to put pressure on their opponents, with Aspas hitting the target before then playing a part in Iglesias seemingly doubling the hosts’ advantage, only for the offside flag to go up against Javi Rueda.
Lille began to settle into the contest and received a boost just before the half-hour mark when Celta midfielder Hugo Sotelo was sent off after treading on Mandi’s ankle, having initially been booked before a VAR check changed referee Harm Osmers’ mind.
However, despite Lille’s man advantage, they failed to create many meaningful opportunities for the rest of the first half, which is probably why head coach Bruno Genesio made a double substitution at half-time in an effort to make his side more dangerous.
Celta also made two changes at the break and understandably went slightly more defensive, but the Galicians were largely comfortable, with Olivier Giroud providing the only notable scare before the hour mark when his prod towards goal was saved by Ionut Radu.
Lille were punished on 68 minutes for their general lack of threat when Celta’s lively substitute Pablo Duran won a corner, with the resulting delivery from Miguel Roman powered in off Ozer’s left-hand post by the unmarked Carl Starfelt.
Despite Giroud’s close-range strike late on to halve the deficit, Celta saw out the victory and are up to 13th in the table, safe in the knowledge that they cannot be eliminated at the end of the league phase.
The same cannot be said for Lille, as they sit 21st, having lost all four of their matches across all competitions since the turn of the year, with a win next week against Freiburg necessary to earn them a seeded play-off place.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Carl Starfelt (Celta Vigo)
