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Celta Vigo have turned themselves into one of the more entertaining teams to watch in Spanish football and this could be a fascinating clash at Balaidos up in Galicia as defending champions Real Madrid head north.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 19th October, 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 Madrid may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
CELTA VIGO PREVIEW: CLAUDIO’S CELTA
Last season, former Liverpool and Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez had Celta Vigo sitting in the bottom three and the relegation places. His sacking and the subsequent promotion of B team coach Claudio Giraldez was followed by Celta immediately massively improving and eventually comfortably finishing firmly in the middle-of-the-table.
Claudio Giraldez’ clearly more proactive and entertaining style of football is more exciting and is also getting the Galicians results. In their nine matches so far this season, Celta’s matches have consisted of 31 goals and they come into this one on the back of a slender 1-0 defeat of Las Palmas a couple of weeks ago.
REAL MADRID PREVIEW: FINDING FORM
Carlo Ancelotti is the arch pragmatist and will find tactical solutions to ease the egos of any big name player but he hasn’t quite found the formula to make this latest incarnation of Real Madrid overly fluent. They have suffered just one defeat in their opening 12 matches across all competitions so far this season but performances have been almost exclusively unconvincing.
Los Blancos come into this one on the back of a much-needed and actually genuinely controlling 2-0 defeat of an impressive Villarreal side a couple of weeks ago with goals in either half from Fede Valverde and Vinicius Junior. That victory came on the back of their surprise 1-0 defeat to Lille in the UEFA Champions League that midweek.
CELTA VIGO TEAM NEWS: CONSEQUENCES OF THE CANARY’S
In their last game, a 1-0 win over Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, both Ilaix Moriba and Iago Aspas were sent off in the second-half and they are both now out suspended.
As well as those two key players, the Galicians will be without key defender Jailson due to injury, whilst Sweden international Carl Starfelt is also a doubt.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-3): Vicente Guaita; Javi Manquillo, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Oscar Mingueza, Fran Beltran, De la Torre, Hugo Alvarez; Douvikas, Borja Iglesias, Swedberg
UNAVAILABLE: Jailson (Injured), Ilaix Moriba (Suspended), Iago Aspas (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Starfelt (Injured)
REAL MADRID TEAM NEWS: ACL INJURIES
Kylian Mbappe missed the international break due to injury but the France captain didn’t not start a game for Madrid before the break and is fully fit and available for this one, too.
Club captain Dani Carvajal has suffered an ACL injury that will see him sidelined for the foreseeable future, whilst David Alaba continues to inch closer to a return.
PREDICTED XI (4-1-2-1-2): Lunin; Militao, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Mendy; Modric; Fede Valverde, Camavinga; Bellingham; Vinicius Junior, Mbappe
UNAVAILABLE: Alaba (Injured), Dani Carvajal (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
CELTA VIGO VS REAL MADRID PREDICTION
Celta Vigo are a front foot team with Claudio Giraldez at the helm looking to get the wing-backs as high as possible, often exposing the back three that now consists of an unfit Carl Starfelt and always slow Marcos Alonso. Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, despite their slow starts to this season, will relish that and Los Blancos are favourites but may well themselves be susceptible at the back this weekend.
CELTA VIGO VS REAL MADRID TIP: REAL MADRID TO WIN & BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE