Real Madrid will be looking to maintain their 100% start to La Liga as they travel to the Estadio de Balaidos for a Friday night clash with Celta Vigo. The hosts are in search of their first win in the competition and with Real looking confident early in the campaign, an away win looks to be on the cards.
Celta Vigo picked up their first point of the season as they held Real Sociedad to a 1-1 draw last weekend. They fell behind midway through the first half and trailed for much of the encounter before Oscar Mingueza struck a dramatic injury-time equaliser.
The result means Celta Vigo are still winless this season having begun their campaign with a 2-0 home defeat to Osasuna. It is looking eerily like last season’s start where they failed to win their opening two fixtures and ultimately finished in the bottom half of the table.
The defeat to Osasuna is an annoying extension of last season’s struggles at the Estadio Balaidos. Rafael Benitez's men have won just two of their last seven La Liga home matches while one of their early defeats was a 4-1 hammering at home to Real Madrid on the second weekend of the previous campaign.
Real Madrid are the early pacesetters in La Liga having begun their campaign with two straight wins. While there is still a lot of football to be played, they will be keen to extend their 100% record for as long as possible, especially with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid already dropping points.
Los Blancos began their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao before picking up a 3-1 win at Almeria last weekend. A key thing about both results is how quickly Jude Bellingham has settled to life in Spain, scoring three goals across both matches.
One of the more impressive aspects of Real Madrid’s campaign so far is that both matches have been on the road. Having been erratic on their travels last season, manager Carlo Ancelotti will be keen to make it three straight away wins at the start of this campaign.
How the bookies view it
Real Madrid have the upper hand among the bookies with a home win priced at 4/6 by Ladbrokes. An unlikely victory for Celta Vigo is placed at 4/1 by Coral while a draw is valued at 14/5 by Paddy Power.
Recent Head to head
Real Madrid have a dominant record in this fixture and are unbeaten in the last 16 meetings against Celta Vigo, claiming 11 wins in that run. They did the double last season, winning 4-1 at the Estadio de Balaidos before picking up a 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture in Madrid.
Players to watch
Jude Bellingham is enjoying a fine start to life in Spain with three goals in just two La Liga appearances so far, and is priced at 11/4 by bet365 to find the net on Friday. Vinicius Junior was on target at Almeria and having found the net in this fixture last season, could be worth keeping an eye on to score anytime at 7/4 with bet365.
Iago Aspas is often pivotal to the success of Celta Vigo, although he is yet to get off the mark thus season. He was on target in this fixture last term and is priced at 11/4 by bet365 to find the net on Friday.
Anything else catch the eye?
This fixture has produced lots of goals in the past with the last meeting at the Estadio Balaidos offering up over 3.5 goals. A repeat is priced at 15/8 by Paddy Power, over 2.5 goals is valued at 8/11 by bet365 while both teams can be backed to score at 7/10 with 888Sport.
Real Madrid have scored in both halves in the last six meetings with Celta Vigo and Friday’s clash could be tipped to follow a similar pattern at 6/4 with BoyleSports. With Los Blancos priced at minimal odds for a straight victory, a win and over 2.5 goals can be considered at 6/4 with bet365.
This La Liga match between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid will be played on Aug 25, 2023 and kick off at 20:30. Check below for our tipsters best Celta Vigo vs Real Madrid prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
