Rossi fires Celta treble

Giuseppe Rossi fired a hat-trick as Celta Vigo climbed back into the top half of La Liga with a 3-1 victory over Las Palmas at Balaidos.

Rossi opened the scoring in the 12th minute after Pedro Bigas’ error gifted him a one-on-one opportunity, minutes after Jozabed rattled the bar for the hosts.

David Simon’s brilliant equaliser was incorrectly cancelled out for offside as yet another Spanish game was mired in officiating controversy, before Vicente Gomez hit the posts for Quique Setien’s men.

The hosts doubled the lead before the break after Iago Aspas’ initial effort was parried and the 30-year-old, on loan from Fiorentina, made it three on the hour mark following another defensive mistake.

Bigas atoned somewhat for his earlier error with a close-range overhead kick late on and Jonathan Viera then missed a glorious chance to give the Galicians a nervy ending.

Before the match, the Italian striker Rossi had netted just once all season but Celta now move up to 10th in the standing with Los Amarillos staying 12th.  

La Liga - Club News