Celta Vigo vs Barcelona Preview: Team News & Prediction

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Celta Vigo have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in Spain for a while and they now come up against the most entertaining team, Barcelona, this week.

Kick-off date/time:

How to watch on TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so any game may be televised on one of their affiliated channels

How to watch online: UK – Premier Player / US – ESPN+

Celta Vigo preview: Silky Celta

Celta Vigo come into this one on the back of an impressive 3-0 hammering of Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb in the league phase of the UEFA Europa League, courtesy of a Pablo Duran brace and a Sergi Dominguez own goal.

The Galicians started this season with a defeat and then seven successive 1-1 draws before back-to-back victories in their last couple of matches, against Osasuna and then Levante.

Barcelona preview: Exposed Barca

Hansi Flick and his style of football has been brilliant to watch but there are concerns that the extraordinarily high-line is now likely to get regularly exposed, as was again the case in midweek.

Up against Belgian giants Club Brugge at the Janbreydelstadion in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona were fortunate to escape with a point as they salvaged a 3-3 draw against the Belgians.

Celta Vigo team news: Key doubts

Goalkeeper Andrei Radu is now a doubt for Celta this weekend alongside midfielder Hugo Alvarez and Sweden U21 international attacker Williot Swedberg.

Predicted XI (3-4-3): Ivan Villar; Javi Rodriguez, Starfelt, Marcos Alonso; Oscar Mingueza, Fran Beltran, Ilaix Moriba, Sergio Carreira; Ferran Jutgla, Borja Iglesias, Bryan Zaragoza

Unavailable: Javi Rueda (Injured)

Questionable: Radu (Injured), Hugo Alvarez (Injured), Swedberg (Injured)

Barcelona team news: Eric Garcia now a doubt

Eric Garcia is now a doubt for Barcelona due to a nose injury, alongside fellow defender Andreas Christensen. Key man Raphinha is working his way back, with Robert Lewandowski having recovered.

Predicted XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alex Balde; De Jong, Marc Casado, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski, Rashford

Unavailable: Ter Stegen (Injured), Joan Garcia (Injured), Pedri (Injured), Gavi (Injured)

Questionable: Eric Garcia (Injured), Christensen (Illness), Raphinha (Injured)

Celta Vigo vs Barcelona prediction

With their home advantage, Celta Vigo will be expected to take the game to the Blaugrana. Claudio Giraldez’ has cultivated a very impressive team that are now on a four-match winning streak across all competitions. They face a Barcelona side that have a lot of goals in their games even when they don’t want that to be the case. This will likely be a thriller for the neutral at Balaidos. 

Celta Vigo vs Barcelona tip: Over 3.5 goals