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La Liga Talking Points – Celta to Shock Champions?

By Kevin Kelly

Luis Enrique has the opportunity to replicate Pep Guardiola's feats by winning the treble in his first year as Barcelona coach.
Luis Enrique has the opportunity to replicate Pep Guardiola's feats by winning the treble in his first year as Barcelona coach. /
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Welcome to La Liga Talking Points, a weekly column running throughout the season in which we take a look at the key stories and talking points from Spanish football’s top flight. With an inevitable focus on the biggest teams, such as Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona, there will also be a worthwhile nod toward the rest, we take a look at how the league is shaping up each week and what to look out for going forward.

Can Celta Shock Champions?

Celta Vigo welcome La Liga table-toppers FC Barcelona to the Balaidos on Wednesday in flying form, having picked up three wins and a draw from their opening four La Liga matches.

Celta Vigo couldn’t have dreamed of a better start of the season. Celta, who finished last season in an impressive 9th place, are looking to go one better this time around, with Eduardo Berizzo’s side currently sitting in 4th place in the La Liga.

Celta travelled to the Pizjuan Stadium on the weekend – a notoriously difficult ground to get a result in – and duly left as victors, beating Sevilla 2-1, courtesy of goals from Nolito and Wass.

Celta face Eibar and Getafe following the Barcelona clash, illustrating the possibility of bouncing back quickly from a likely loss against the Spanish champions.

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Luis Enrique’s Barcelona however go into the clash in even better form – if it was indeed more expected than Celta’s current rise.

Having won four consecutive La Liga games – which included a trip to the Vicente Calerdon – La Blaugrana sit aloft the table two points clear of Real Madrid.

The weekend’s 4-1 victory over Levante will paint Barcelona in a better light than first-hand visitors will have seen. In a game where Lionel Messi scored – and missed – a penalty, it wasn’t until the final moments when a moment of Messi magic sealed the victory did Barcelona look close to their slick best.

Big Test for Benitez

Real Madrid manager Rafa Benitez has manoeuvred his way through a potentially precarious situation with Cristiano Ronaldo with aplomb in recent weeks, with Los Blancos now in fine form, with the Portuguese in free-scoring form.

Madrid beat Granada on the weekend, but narrowly, with a solitary Karim Benzema strike in the 55th minute enough to seal the victory for Los Blancos.

With a trip across the city to face Diego Simeone’s side in the coming weeks, the time to keep up their decent form is now for Benitez’s side.

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    • Meanwhile If Athletic Club have any intentions of repeating last seasons heroics, where they finished 4th in La Liga, they need to start picking up wins soon. The pertinent issue however, is they play Real Madrid on Wednesday.

    Valverde’s men have slumped to defeat in three of there opening four games this season; a genuine surprise given their form in the Supercopa against Barcelona.

    The loss away to Basque rivals SD Eibar will still rankle Valverde, as it was arguably the standout fixture for the Basque’s to win any game in the season so far.

    Now or Never for Emery’s Men

    Unai Emery’s Sevilla sit bottom of the table in La Liga, and many Sevilla fans wondering how bad must it get before they begin to worry.

    Sevilla of course won the Europa League last season, as well as finishing in a creditable 5th place in the table, but since then they have looked only a shadow of their former selves.

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    Key players have indeed departed – such as Carlos Bacca who left for AC Milan, but to be four games without a win is undeniably a poor return for Emery’s side, who have another tough game in Rayo Vallecano at home to come on the weekend.

    It would be trite to suggest Sevilla will easily pick up their first win of the season against Las Palmas, but in truth, it seems the most likely outcome: Emery’s men are undefeated in their last nine away matches in La Liga.

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