This Friday marks the start of the second round of Spain’s top flight, so we have prepared an absolutely free La Liga betting pick with the most accurate Celta v Valencia prediction. These two clubs were on the exact opposite end of the footballing fortunes after the openining weekend. Celta fell behind against Alaves, but managed to produce a 2:1 comeback at home in the second half. On the flip side, Valencia took the lead against Barcelona, but could not hold on and ended losing by 1:2 after a brace from Lewandowski. So what can we expect from this classic La Liga clash? Let’s find out with our free Celta v Valencia prediction for August 23, 2024.
Celta 2024/25 Season Preview
This season marks the 13th straight campaign for Vigo in La Liga. In recent years, they’ve flondered between the 11th and 13th spots. This year, the goal is to finish in the first half of the table, which would be a good improvement for a club that does not have most resources, but has always had a great fanbase.
Given their modest finances, Celta have always had to rely on being smart in the transfer market, and this summer was no different. Defender Unai Nunez was signed on a permament transfer after being tested last year as he was brought on a loan from Athletic Bilbao. The other two additions are loans – striker Borja Iglesias from Real Betis and Guinean midfielder Ilaix Moriba from Red Bull Leipzig.
An interesting fact about Celta’s results last season was that they only managed to win six of their 19 home games. Thus, head coach Claudio Giráldez will be looking to drastically imporve on their home form.
Valencia 2024/25 Season Preview
Valencia are similar to Celta in terms of their modest financial resources, but they compensate for that with a better youth development system, and they’ve traditionally been a club that produces high quality footballers that end making waves across Europe. In the last five years, their best league finish was the fourth spot they claimed in 2019. In 2022/23, Valencia barely avoided relegation. Last year, however, guided by former club captain Ruben Baraja, Los Che finished 9th, which was a drastic improvement.
In terms of their transfer market dealings, Valencia had a similarly modest campaign compared to Celta as in came 36-year old veteran defender Dani Gomez, Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski (perhaps a ligning up a replacement for Giorgi Mamardashvili who had an excellent Euro 2024 and Liverpool are set to be interested), and one striker Rafa Mir who played for the club between 2012-2018.
Celta v Valencia Current Form and Expected Lineups
Of course, with this being just the second round of the Spanish La Liga, it’s way too early to talk about current form, but the openers gave us some indications as to what we might expect from both sides. In the match against Alaves, Celta played some really good football, and it was their talisman and absolute La Liga legen Iago Aspas that stole the show.
Despite being at the age of 37, Aspas was the focal point of most of Vigo’s attacks and he had a great goal that was disallowed in the first half. The goal was disallowed after VAR because Aspas‘ boot was a milimiter ahead of the defender. To me, these are absurd decisions that must be changed. Fine goals cannot be disallowed because an milimeter or even an inch. There must be a rule that gives forwards a little bit of room, a margin of some sort, because an inch does not give you that big of an advantage and a ref would never be able to see it with his own eyes.
Williot Swedberg was another player that made a great impression against Alaves. He scored an absolute rocket directly from Sweden despite coming on as a substitue. Given how good he played, I expect him to star against Valencia. Javi Rodriguez was another impactful substitue that should make the starting 11 this time. The super fast winger Jonathan Bamba should play from the first minute despite getting subbed at the half in the opener. The injury doubts for Celta are Vicente Guaita and Luca de la Torre.
As per Los Che, Ruben Baraja is expected to name the same starting 11 that started against Barcelona. Andre Almeida should parnter Hugo Duro in attack. Duro scored a fine header against the Catalans. Valencia have a lot more injury problems with Diakhaby, Jaume Domenech, Fran Perez, Jose Gaya, and Sergi Canos all out with various fitness issues. Rafa Mir should retain his place on the right wing.
Celta Vigo Expected Starting 11:
Villar; J Rodriguez, U Garcia, Dominguez, Mingueza; Alvarez, D Rodriguez, Swedberg; Aspas, Iglesias, Bamba
Valencia Expected Starting 11:
Mamardashvili; Correia, Mosquera, Gasiorowski, Vazquez; Mir, Pepelu, Guerra, D Lopez; Almeida; Duro
Celta v Valencia Prediction
Let’s examine the odds in light of our free La Liga betting pick and this Celta v Valencia prediction in particular. What’s really striking to me are the high odds for going over the 2.5 goals line. At the moment, the bookmakers are offer 2.20 for the Over 2.5 Goals mark et, and that tells me that this would be a tense game where we won’t see a goal fest.
To me, however, the Spanish La Liga is the best football league in Europe right now, surpassing the Premier League and all the other top competitions. Simply the style of football is much more direct and dynamic, much more technicall, all the players are skilled on the ball, have great control. That’s why in a typical Spanish match, you won’t see that many long balls or crosses as in England. This makes up for football games that are great to watch, despite the fact that you might not see all the big, big names on a regular basis, as you might in the Premier League.
To prove this observation, you can take a look at the results from the first round where nine out of the ten games played ended up in Both Teams Scoring!
With that being said, I do expect Celta and Valencia to put up a good game. They play fast, they keep the ball low. Yet, the line of the bookmakers is correct 60-70% of the time, so it would be illogical to go after the goals. That’s why my free La Liga betting pick for August 23 would be on 2 or 3 goals in the match, total.
Bet On 2 or 3 Goals In the Match @ 1.90
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