Celta Vigo vs Real Mallorca Preview: Team News & Prediction
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We have two teams that have massively evolved their styles in the last six months or so meeting at Balaidos this weekend as an entertaining Celta Vigo side welcome a European chasing Real Mallorca to Galicia.
Kick-off date/time: Friday 6th December, 2024: UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
How to watch on TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Celta Vigo vs Real Mallorca may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
How to watch online: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
Celta Vigo Preview: Claudio Giraldez’ Galicians
In their 15 La Liga matches so far this season, there have been 50 goals and that is not a fluke. The style of football that former B team coach Claudio Giraldez has implemented at Balaidos has been much better to watch than his predecessor, Rafa Benitez, and also has Celta well out of a relegation battle and potentially capable of pushing towards the top seven.
They come into this one on the back of a 7-0 annihilation of lower league side Salamanca USD in the second round of the Copa del Rey in midweek at Estadio Helmantico. They have now suffered one defeat in their last six matches across all competitions and those six games have consisted of 26 goals.
Real Mallorca Preview: Improved Majorcans
Following the departure of Javier Aguirre to the Mexican national team, the ambitious project of Real Mallorca was placed into the hands of Jago Arrasate, who had done an excellent job with Osasuna. His brief was to get them into the top-half but they may even be considering a top six or seven finish and potential UEFA competition qualification instead.
The Majorcans were hammered 5-1 by a faltering Barcelona side inspired by the return of Lamine Yamal at Son Moix the other day but that game can be placed to one side. Their style of football has evolved, albeit does remain reliant on big man Vedat Muriqi up-front. They came from behind to defeat struggling Valencia by two goals to one last weekend.
Celta Vigo Team News: Three likely absentees
Celta have three players whose status is ‘doubtful’ but to differing extents with all three expected to miss at least this weekend’s action and likely a few more weeks.
Jailson has been out with a groin injury for around a month or so, as has been the case for United States international Luca de la Torre and now Sergio Carreira is unavailable, too.
Predicted XI (3-4-3): Vicente Guaita; Javi Rodriguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Oscar Mingueza, Swedberg, Ilaix Moriba, Hugo Alvarez; Bamba, Douvikas, Iago Aspas
Unavailable:
Questionable: Jailson (Injured), Sergio Carreira (Injured), De La Torre (Injured)
Real Mallorca Team News: No Copete
As mentioned, Mallorca play an easier on the eye style of football than they used to but with a reliance on the likes of Cyle Larin and the aforementioned Muriqi in attack.
They have a couple of defensive injuries to concern themselves with as Juan Manuel Copete is sidelined alongside Toni Lato, whilst Takuma Asano is nearing a return to full fitness.
Predicted XI (4-4-2): Leo Roman; Pablo Maffeo, Valjent, Antonio Raillo, Johan Mojica; Valery Fernandez, Manu Morlanes, Costa, Sergi Darder; Muriqi, Larin
Unavailable: Copete (Injured), Toni Lato (Injured)
Questionable: Mateu Morey (Injured), Asano (Injured)
Celta Vigo vs Real Mallorca Prediction
Celta Vigo are expected to take the game to Mallorca, especially at Balaidos, as they try to do against anyone, including league leaders Barcelona a few weeks ago when they fought back from 2-0 down to earn a point. Mallorca’s style is improved and better to watch from a neutral perspective but is still a lot more controlled than Celta. That said, Celta give opportunities for everyone to score and the visitors have plenty of threats to hurt their opposition so both teams scoring would appear a good bet for this one.
Celta Vigo vs Real Mallorca Tip: Both teams to score
