Celta Vigo take on the visitors Barcelona in the round 25 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Saturday, February 17th at Estadio de Balaídos (Vigo).
After a disastrous first half of the season, Celta's footballers are gradually starting to regain their form. Yes, the team from Vigo is still moving up the table very slowly, but they have at least managed to escape the relegation zone. The main problem for Celtics is their defense. If they defended better, they would collect more points. After all, the team's attack is quite decent - 26 goals in 24 matches, which is an average of more than one per game. Celta played their last two La Liga matches away. First, they convincingly defeated Osasuna (3-0), but then lost in a shootout against Getafe (2-3). In their last two home matches, the Celts lost by the same scoreline of 0-1, but their opponents were currently more defensively solid than Barcelona, Girona, and Real Sociedad.
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Yes, Barcelona's defense is currently far from ideal. Their players can concede goals seemingly out of nowhere, and the return of Ter-Stegen has not yet been as impactful as it was last season. In the last nine La Liga rounds, the Catalans have kept just one clean sheet, and even that was in a home match. However, Barcelona also conceded three goals at home against Granada (3-3) in the previous round, and earlier, they conceded five goals against Villarreal (3-5). Regarding their away matches in the league, here are the recent results for the Blaugrana: victories against Betis (4-2), Las Palmas (2-1), and Alaves (3-1), draws with Valencia (1-1), Mallorca (2-2), and Granada (2-2). As you can see, Javi's proteges rarely keep clean sheets, but they consistently exchange goals with their opponents.
Despite my sympathy for the Catalans (I've been supporting Barcelona for over 20 years), it's very risky to bet on a victory for Javi's team this season, even when they are clear favorites on paper. The team can beat anyone, but they are also capable of dropping points against any opponent. So, I won't venture into predicting the outcome of the match. Instead, I'll opt for a relatively modest but practical bet on Both Teams to Score. This bet has played out in 14 matches involving Celta and in 18 matches involving Barcelona out of 24 La Liga rounds. In their head-to-head encounters, these teams consistently exchange goals, with few exceptions. Five out of the last six recent meetings between Barca and the boys from Vigo were played at BTTS.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score – yes.
