Xavi Hernandez’s high-flying Barcelona host Celta Vigo in the Spanish top flight on Sunday night.
The Catalan giants have made a strong start to domestic proceedings, coming into the contest on the back of six consecutive league victories. However, back-to-back Champions League defeats have left their European aspirations hanging in the balance.
Eduardo ‘Chacho’ Coudet’s Celta Vigo are as exciting as they are unpredictable but boast one of the division’s underrated gems in the form of Iago Aspas. The talismanic forward has scored ten goals in his last 13 appearances against Barcelona.
Here’s everything you need to know about the meeting between these sides.
Where can you watch Barcelona vs Celta Vigo Highlights?
Barcelona vs Celta Vigo H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Barcelona: 2 Wins
Celta Vigo: 1 Win
Draws: 2
Current Form (Last Five Games)
Barcelona: WLWWL
Celta Vigo: WWLLW
Barcelona team news
Ronald Araujo returned to Barcelona after undergoing surgery on his hip in a wheelchair. The Uruguay international is joined in the treatment room by fellow centre-backs Jules Kounde (hamstring) and Andreas Christensen (ankle).
Hector Bellerin is a doubt with a leg injury while Memphis Depay is still nursing a hamstring complaint. In brighter news, Frenkie de Jong has returned to training but Franck Kessie sustained a muscle problem against Inter.
Xavi was forced to call up six youth team players to make up the numbers in training.
Barcelona Starting 11 (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Balde, Pique, Garcia, Alba; Gavi, De Jong, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Fati.
Bench: Pena, Tenas, Busquets, Torres, Alonso, Roberto, Casado, Torre, Txus.
Celta Vigo team news
Celta Vigo, in stark contrast to Barcelona’s injury-riddled ranks, are set to travel to Camp Nou with a fully fit squad. The aforementioned Aspas could only come on for the final 15 minutes of Celta’s victory against Real Betis last weekend but is expected to have overcome a stomach bug that kept him on the bench.
Celta Vigo Starting 11 (4-3-1-2): Marchesin; Mallo, Aidoo, Nunez, Galan; Solari, Tapia, Beltran; Veiga; Aspas, Larsen.
Bench: Villar, Mingueza, Paciencia, Arnaiz, Swedberg, Vazquez, De la Torre, Dominguez, Duran.
Barcelona often come unstuck against Celta. Xavi’s side eked out a victory in their penultimate home match of last season but were swept along in a crazy 3-3 draw last November.
The Blaugrana haven’t won consecutive matches against the Galician outfit since doing the double over Celta in the 2013/14 campaign when Xavi was still in the playing squad.
In a meeting between two teams that are keen to keep the ball and work it up the pitch at their leisure, Barcelona’s superior quality may tell. However, Celta – especially with Aspas at the ready – are hardly going to be pushovers.
Prediction: Barcelona 3-1 Celta Vigo
