Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid will look to recover from a 5-2 hiding at the hands of Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup Final when they host La Liga mid-tablers Celta Vigo in Thursday’s Cope Del Rey action.
Despite leading after five minutes through Kylian Mbappe, Madrid conceded four first half goals to see their Super Cup hopes extinguished, with Raphinha bagging the Catalan club's fifth shortly after the break.
Meanwhile, Celta Vigo have won three of their last five games despite defeat to Rayo Vallecano last time out, and have slowly started to climb up the La Liga rankings. Having won three games to reach this stage of Spain’s premier cup competition, they have been drawn against Real Madrid at a vulnerable time, and could fancy themselves to pull off an unlikely shock.
As the game approaches, here is everything you need to know about both sides ahead of kick-off.
Real Madrid Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Thibaut Courtois (GK); Ferland Mendy, Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba, Luis Vasquez; Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric; Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Endrick; Kylian Mbappe.
For 22 minutes against Barcelona on Sunday, all seemed to be going to plan. Kylian Mbappe had skilfully given them the lead, and they were holding their arch rivals at arms length. However, minds must have wandered to the 4-0 home defeat they suffered to Barcelona in October, and they seemed to implode as soon as Lamine Yamal brought the scores level.
Five goals and 41 minutes later, Madrid were a broken side, and Rodrygo’s consolation goal with half an hour to play held no sway over the final score.
However, Madrid can control whether this is just a blip on their remarkable recent resume, or if it becomes the start of an unexpected slump. Having won 7 of their previous 8 games and avoiding defeat in the anomaly, the latter seems unlikely, and posed with a team which they have such a dominant Head to Head record with, my money is on Real Madrid to bounce back.
Celta Vigo Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Vincente Guaita (GK); Marcos Alonso, Carlos Dominguez, Carl Starfelt, Oscar Mingueza; Fran Beltran, Ilaix Moriba; Williot Swedberg, Jonathan Bamba, Alfon Gonzalez; Borja Iglesias.
While they are missing a couple of key players through injury, including club legend Iago Aspas, Vigo have more than enough talent in their side to cause Real Madrid problems.
They can boast former Premier League talent at the back in Marcos Alonso and Vincente Guaita, while a talented attacking lineup including Jonathan Bamba, Borja Iglesias and Franco Cervi has propelled them to be the sixth highest scoring side in the division.
It is defence where they have had problems. While their goal total of 28 is impressive, the 30 they have conceded is matched only by sides in the bottom four and Villareal, who provide something of an outlier in this data set.
If they can reinforce their defence in the transfer window, we may well start to see improving form, but this game against Real Madrid comes just a little too soon, despite their opponents being somewhat delicate after the Super Cup final.
Recent Meetings:
Despite the obvious gulf in quality between the two sides, cup games in almost any country become much harder to call than league meetings, as they are one of tie’s where managers try new tactics and ways of playing, often catching opposition by surprise.
While we think Real Madrid will win, it will be far from straightforward, and at the very least both teams will score.
Real Madrid 3-2 Celta Vigo
Celta Vigo will likely set up to frustrate Real, looking to counter rather than take charge of the game. However, Madrid will eventually get to grips with the opponents, and their attacking firepower will force them into the next round.
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