Villarreal will try and continue the winning run against the Galician side to stay in the fight for Europe
Villarreal will visit the Estadio Abanca-Balaídos, this Sunday at 4:15pm CET to face RC Celta de Vigo, in the match corresponding to the Matchday 34 of LALIGA EA Sports. The Submarine will face the match as an opportunity to stay in the tough fight for the European places and get closer to their competitors for seventh place.
The Yellows side will face the Galicians with the arrow pointing upwards after thrashing Rayo Vallecano (3-0) at the Estadio de la Cerámica, in an afternoon in which Álex Baena with a brace of assists, and Alexander Sorloth with two goals gave a recital on the pitch.
With this brace, the Norwegian moves into second place in the Pichichi ranking with 17 goals, two behind current top scorer Artem Dovbyk (19 goals). Therefore, Alex Sorloth, in a state of grace, will face this final stretch of the championship with the hope of becoming the top scorer in LaLiga.
With five games remaining in the competition, Marcelino’s side are ninth in the table with 45 points, four points behind Betis in seventh with 49 points.
For their part, Celta go into Sunday’s clash in need of points, having lost 3-0 to Alavés at Villarreal. Claudio Giráldez’s side are also in the fight for survival, as with five games to go they occupy 17th place in the table with 31 points.
The Galician always present Villarreal with difficult games at their stadium, and in the seventeen LALIGA visits the Submarine have made to their stadium, the record favours Celta with seven wins to Villarreal’s five. However, the Yellows have not lost in Vigo since 2019, with the last win coming in the 2020/2021 season, when Gerard Moreno, Moi Gómez, Dani Parejo and Fer Niño scored in a 0-4 victory. In the last two visits to Balaídos in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons, Villarreal managed two 1-1 draws.
Referees
César Soto Grado will be the referee for the match, with Carlos del Cerro Grande on VAR.
