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Celta Vigo are among some of the most entertaining teams to watch in Spain so far this season and they now welcome an Atletico Madrid side that have also become a lot more watchable in recent times.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 26th September, 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 Atletico Madrid may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
CELTA VIGO PREVIEW: SILKY CELTA
With a fairly miserable and defensive style of football last season as they struggled down towards the bottom end of La Liga under the management of Rafa Benitez, the March appointment of B team coach Claudio Giraldez has been an inspired one, albeit Celta are not consistently effective.
The Galicians come into this one on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Athletic Club at San Mames in the Basque Country at the weekend. The home team fell behind early on via Gorka Guruzeta before Iago Aspas equalised after 25 minutes with Athletic sealing all three points via goals from Gorka Guruzeta again and then summer signing Alvaro Djalo.
ATLETICO MADRID PREVIEW: FRUSTRATION FOR ATLETI
After a summer in which Atletico Madrid spent over £100 million on the likes of Robin Le Normand, Conor Gallagher, Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth, Los Rojiblancos have begun to evolve their style a touch but there was a regression to a more reactive style of football at the weekend.
Atletico made the short trip to Madrid-based Rayo Vallecano and shared a 1-1 draw at Vallecas after going in at half-time a goal down before Conor Gallagher managed to score his second Atleti goal early on in the second-half. That followed on from victories over RB Leipzig and Valencia after the September international break.
CELTA VIGO TEAM NEWS: REACTING TO DEFEAT
There are no fresh injury concerns or suspension issues for Celta to deal with but changes would still seem quite likely after their hammering the other day.
The home team do still have a couple of defensive absentees for this clash with Atletico as full-backs Mihailo Ristic and Javi Manquillo remain sidelined.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-3): Vicente Guaita; Rodriguez Galiano, Starfelt, Jailson; Hugo Alvarez, Hugo Sotelo, Damian Rodriguez, Oscar Mingueza; Iago Aspas, Douvikas, Bamba
UNAVAILABLE: Ristic (Injured), Javi Manquillo (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
ATLETICO MADRID TEAM NEWS: DE PAUL DOUBT
Diego Simeone, once the epitome of consistency, has become keen on rotation and changes in recent times and he has chopped and changed regularly in these opening few games.
Young midfielder Pablo Barrios remains sidelined for the visitors with Argentinian international midfielder Rodrigo De Paul now a doubt for the trip to Balaidos, too.
PREDICTED XI (3-5-2): Oblak; Cesar Azpilicueta, Jose Maria Gimenez, Reinildo; Nahuel Molina, Marcos Llorente, Koke, Gallagher, Samuel Lino; Sorloth, Griezmann
UNAVAILABLE: Pablo Barrios (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: De Paul (Injured)
CELTA VIGO VS ATLETICO MADRID PREDICTION
As mentioned, Celta have become really entertaining to watch but now the Galicians must show that they also have a bit about them as well as being good fun. They will get after Atletico from the off but Atletico have an abundance of talent – and it could be fresh talent, too, after Antoine Griezmann was rested the other day, for example. Neither side can be overly trusted just yet but both teams scoring does seem a good bet.
CELTA VIGO VS ATLETICO MADRID TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE