Coming out as the winner of this game would bring Barça one step closer to winning the title of La Liga. Of course, Celta will do all in their power to ruin the celebration, but do they have the power to cause an upset on Tuesday at the Estadio de Balaídos in Vigo? Find out in this Celta vs. Barcelona match preview!
Celta
At the moment, Celta are just a few spots away from the place that leads to the Europa League. In fact, Villarreal, who are at the 6th place on the table, have only five points more. This is why Celta will do all in their power to get as many points as possible before the season ends.
The problem for Celta is that they have a pretty tough schedule ahead. After the duel with arguably the strongest team in Spain, Barcelona, Celta will play against a few more heavyweights, including Valencia, Villarreal, and Real Madrid.
What makes Celta fans optimistic ahead of the duel with Barça is that their team has proved to be a very tough nut to crack when playing against big-name sides. For example, a few weeks ago, Celta thrashed Sevilla 4:0 at home.
Surely, they can’t compare to Barcelona in terms of player quality, but Celta definitely have a number of talented players in the squad. For instance, Celta’s top scorer, Iago Aspas, has been sensational this season, in which he’s already scored 19 league goals.
Barcelona
After getting knocked out of the Champions League by AS Roma, Barcelona now need to focus on winning the two remaining competitions – La Liga and Copa Del Rey. They currently have 11 points more than the second-placed Atletico Madrid in La Liga, meaning that they can win the trophy as early as 6th of May, when they’ll play El Clasico. Surely, they can win the title even earlier, but only if Atletico Madrid fail to beat Real Sociedad and Real Betis.
Although there’s no doubt that they’re super motivated to beat Celta, Barça’s manager might decide to give a few players some rest. The reason is that this team plays the final of Copa Del Rey against Sevilla this Saturday.
That’s the reason why I think a couple of Barça’s key men will start the Celta duel from the bench. Andres Iniesta is definitely one of them and I wouldn’t even be too surprised if Lionel Messi was left on the bench as well.
Team News
Celta absentees:
- Pablo Hernandez (suspension)
- Hugo Mallo (suspension)
- Robert Mazan (injury)
Barcelona absentees:
- Ivan Rakitic (injury)
- Lucas Digne (injury)
Possible Lineups
Celta:
Álvarez – Roncaglia, Sergi Gómez, Jonny Castro, Cabral – Lobotka, Wass, Radoja – Sisto, Gomez, Iago Aspas
Barcelona:
Ter Stegen – Pique, Umtiti, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba – Paulinho, Busquets, Dembele, Coutinho – Paco Alcácer, Suarez
Celta vs. Barcelona Match Prediction
Although I think Barça will win this, I would still recommend betting on goals market rather than outcome. We’re guaranteed to see a couple of goals in this match, considering the fact that both sides are extremely powerful in the final third. Furthermore, both Celta and Barcelona will be very motivated to win this match, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if we saw at least one goal on both ends.
Celta vs. Barcelona Betting Tips
- Barcelona @1.70 (bet365)
- Over 2.5 Goals @1.53 (bet365)
- BTS @1.55 (bwin)
