Celta vs Barça: Preview
The leaders face a very tough league trip before Saturday’s Cup Final on the road to two titles and some redemption
Celta Vigo (9th, 43pts) vs Barcelona (1st, 82pts)
Competition/Round: 2017-18 La Liga, Matchday 33
Barcelona team news: Ivan Rakitic (out, injury), Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets (out, rest)
Celta Vigo team news: Hugo Mallo, Pablo Hernández (out, suspension)
Date/Time: Tuesday, April 17th, 2018, 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm EST, 12pm PST (USA), 12.30am IST (India, next day)
Venue: Estadio de Balaídos, Vigo, Spain
Referee: David Fernández Borbalán
How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Sky Sports Football (UK), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), SONY TEN 2 (India), others
How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA & Canada), Sky GO (UK), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)
Things were supposed to be a lot better for Barcelona after the Blaugrana responded to the tragedy in Rome with a win against Valencia, one of the best sides in Europe this season. But the way Barça were outplayed and the incredible luck they needed to get the win on Saturday doesn’t really encourage the fans, and things really don’t look good right now.
But life must go on, and we actually have the chance to win two titles this month! The first title will be on the line against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey Final this weekend, but before that the La Liga leaders have a tough trip to Celta Vigo, who have had a very solid season under former Barça assistant Juan Carlos Unzué and have defeated Barça at the Balaídos a lot recently.
Ernesto Valverde is resting quite a lot of players for the game against Sevilla, which sounds good given the recent run of important matches but could mean disaster against such a good Celta team. Barça must play a lot better to win this one, but it’s really hard to expect that these days.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-4-2): Ter Stegen; Semedo, Mina, Umtiti, Digne; Vidal, Paulinho, Gomes, Coutinho; Dembélé, Alcácer
Celta Vigo (4-4-2): Álvarez; Roncaglia, Cabral, Gómez, Jonny; Wass, Radoja, Lobotka, Sisto; Gómez, Aspas
PREDICTION
I don’t like the rotation before a Cup final that only means something to the manager, but I’m not the manager so I get to criticize him after the rotations lead to an inevitable loss at Balaídos: 3-1 Celta.
Post a Comment