As Real Madrid visit Celta de Vigo this Wednesday, to compensate for the match earlier this season that was postponed; they will surely be having all their eyes on a win. After this match, Los Blancos won’t have an extra match advantage over Barca, hence it is absolutely vital for the Madrid team to win their match to keep a hand on the title. And with the home team being in a very poor run of form, it shouldn’t really be a tough task for the ruthless Real Madrid, provided they maintain focus. Celta de Vigo has been in totally poor form in the Spanish La Liga and hence won’t really be expecting themselves to be able to contain a rampaging Real Madrid outfit.
CELTA DE VIGO vs. REAL MADRID FC
3-Way: 1: CELTA DE VIGO +1400; X: +725 Draw; 2: REAL MADRID FC -400
Spread +2: CELTA DE VIGO +112; REAL MADRID FC -108
Total +4.5: Over +138; Under -139
CELTA DE VIGO
This has indeed been a below par season for Celta de Vigo. A decent start, where they mixed up scoring goals and good build up play, started to falter, and now as the Spanish La Liga season comes to a close their final performances have been below the usual standards. They were knocked out by Manchester United in the Europa League Semifinals, and they have been pretty poor in the league most recently. With two matches left, Celta will definitely want to get better results for the fans, but a midweek fixture against the Los Blancos won’t really be their preferred match up.
Sitting in the bottom half of the Spanish la liga table at the 13th position, Celta has accrued 44 points. 26 of these points have been won in front of the home crowd. The Celestes have been in very poor form in the league of late. They have lost all of their last 5 league games, and that run seems to continue in the coming fixture too. A 3:1 away loss to Deportivo Alaves was preceded by a 3:0 away loss against Malaga. Celta has also failed to score in their last three home games, and conceded at least 1 goal in the same matches.
Celta Vigo has a just about decent attacking unit, which is a surprise keeping in mind that they have one of the most lethal attackers in the league. The Celeste have managed to score 50 goals in the Spanish La Liga so far, with 27 of those coming at home. It is the backline where majority of the problems exist for the team. Celta has conceded 63 league goals, with 26 of those coming at home. They have managed to keep only 7 clean sheets in the process.
Former Liverpool forward Iago Aaspas has been the leading light for Celta as he is doing his bit in providing inspiration to the side in attacking terms at least. The Spaniard has 18 goals to his name, along with 3 assists. Apart from him, Danish winger Danile Wass has been providing a bit of flair in the attack, though minimal. He has 3 goals and 4 assists to his name in the league. Moreover, they do not have many injury troubles, as only Giuseppe Rossi is a long term absentee, and Nemanja Radoja is doubtful for the match due to Achilles injury.
REAL MADRID FC
It has turned out to be a possible masterstroke by Fiorentino Perez for promoting Zinedine Zidane to the head coach, as the senior team is on its way to a probable League and Champions league double on his very first full season in charge of Los Blancos senior team. He has created a ruthless attacking machine that has scored in all the matches across all the competitions this season. With an extremely capable group of squad players, he has made sure that all his players stay fresh and he is able to cope with any injury troubles too. As they get ready to visit Celta, it is important for the Los Blancos to grab all three points as that would give them a 3 point lead over title rivals Barcelona.
With Zidane’s squad mixing grit and scrappy wins along with confident, swashbuckling victories, it has been clear that most of the times, we can expect them to take full points from a match no matter what is the overall performance. Sitting in the 2nd position of the Spanish La Liga, the Los Blancos have collected 87 points in the league, with 46 of them coming at home. They have won 4 of their last 5 league games, losing the other one. Their most frequent score of this season has been a 2:1 victory. The Madrid club won their last match against Sevilla, by the score 4:1, their last home game of the season. Before that, they thrashed Granada 4:0.
Real has definitely been the most consistent team in the Spanish La Liga when it comes to scoring goals, as they have done it all the matches this season. The Los Blancos have scored a massive 100 goals in the league alone. 48 of those goals have come in front of the home crowd. Only FC Barcelona have scored more than them. The defense has conceded a few needless goals this season, but has done a good job in preventing most of them. They have conceded 40 goals this season, with half of them conceded at the road. Zidane’s men have managed to keep 9 clean sheets till now in the Spanish Top flight.
As one would guess, their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo has been the man that has been leading the way in goals for the team. He has scored 22 league goals to his name, and 6 assists to his name, which shows he has been just as effective after 30 as he was before. Following him is young Spanish striker Alvaro Morata, who has started way less games than Benzema and still managed to score 15 league goals. German playmaker Toni Kroos has 12 assists to his name, second highest in the league. Even their defense is very adept in front of the goal. Left back Marcelo has scored 2 goals, and contributed to an impressive 9 assists.
They have a few concerns to players missing out this match. Utility defender Nacho is suspended for the match, while Colombian James Rodriguez is a doubt with a foot injury. On the positive side, defender Pepe is back in training and might be a choice for the starting 11.
CELTA DE VIGO vs. REAL MADRID FC MATCH PREDICTION
Even though Real Madrid might change the starting line-up, keeping in mind that this match is sandwiched between two weekend fixtures, it is still difficult to envisage anything other than a Real Madrid win against Celta.
Celta Vigo has talented attackers in their ranks, and they might as well breach the Los Blancos backline, but it won’t be sufficient to overpower Real Madrid, who possess enough firepower in their attack, to breach the Celta backline a fair few times.
The Los Blancos will certainly go for a win, while the hosts will look to keep their net untouched for as long as possible and leave a good impression for their fans. With that in mind, I think that the teams will not combine over 4.5 goals in total.
MY PICK: Under 4.5 goals (-139)
