At 1:00 AM on August 17th, Celta Vigo will host Alaves in the first round of the 2024/25 La Liga season. Last season, Celta Vigo finished 13th with 41 points. Alaves, as a promoted team, performed incredibly toughly, but unfortunately their performance declined later, finishing 10th with 46 points.
During the summer transfer window, Celta Vigo showed a very “calm” approach. Their biggest move was bringing in center-back Nunez from Athletic Bilbao, who played on loan for Celta Vigo last season. This is also the only expenditure of the club in this summer window so far. In addition, Celta Vigo signed Iglesias from Real Betis and Moriba from RB Leipzig on loan, and promoted 4 young players from the reserve team to the first team. To further free up the team’s limited salary space, Larsen was loaned to Wolves, and several other players left the team on free transfers.
Comparatively, Alaves has been more active in the transfer market, but their total spending so far is only €10.4 million, with €2.5 million earned from player sales. They have signed Blanco from Real Madrid for €4 million, Kubo from Real Sociedad for €1.8 million, Grosobel from Real Sociedad for €1.5 million, and Maras from Almeria for €1.5 million. Although the number of signings seems to be considerable, the quality of signings is like a lottery ticket waiting to be scratched; they are not sure which one will bring a surprise.
During the off-season, Celta Vigo completed 7 friendly matches in preparation for the new season, with a record of 4 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, demonstrating a pretty good competitive form. They drew with Benfica and West Ham United, and their only defeat was a 1-3 loss to Lille. Benfica is an old club in the Portuguese League, and West Ham United, under the leadership of new coach Lopetegui, has been making significant signings this summer, significantly increasing their strength. Celta Vigo’s ability to draw with these two teams makes the prospect of the new season very promising.
Alaves, on the other hand, has been more aggressive, playing 8 friendly matches with a record of 3 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss. However, the strength of their opponents in the friendly matches was generally limited, and the team’s condition is still in a slow climb phase. The biggest problem the team has encountered throughout the friendlies is their apparent lack of attacking prowess, scoring a maximum of 2 goals in a single game. But in their last friendly match before the start of the new season, they beat last season’s impressive Osasuna 2-1, which gave the whole team a lot of confidence.
According to statistics, the two teams have met 58 times historically, with Celta Vigo winning 23, drawing 14 and losing 21, giving them a slight edge overall. In the two clashes between the two teams last season, Alaves remained undefeated with 1 win and 1 draw. However, in their last 5 encounters, Celta Vigo has won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1, giving them a clear advantage. Looking at the 29 encounters at Celta Vigo’s home ground alone, Celta Vigo has won 17, drawn 7 and lost 5, with a clear lead.
Celta Vigo has managed to survive narrowly in recent seasons. Judging from their investment this season, the team will most likely repeat the past three seasons. If they can get a winning start to the season, Celta Vigo may be looking forward to a different season. However, the team suffered a blow before the game, with two key players, Dotoré and Gayá, missing the first game of the new season due to injury. Alaves, as last season’s promoted team, performed slightly better than expected. They may face greater difficulties this season, with survival likely to be their main theme this season.
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