Football Previews
Celta Vigo coach Eduardo Berizzo has admitted his side’s hopes of catching Malaga in seventh place hinge on them beating the Andalusians on Wednesday at Balaidos. Malaga’s slide in form has seen their hold on seventh spot loosened, and Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Deportivo La Coruna was their sixth successive match without a win. Celta, meanwhile, have witnessed an upturn in form, picking up 10 points from their last six outings to move to within five points of Javi Gracia’s side. And Berizzo has made it clear he wants his team to challenge Malaga for seventh, making victory on Wednesday his number one priority. “That is our main objective, they are the team that we have to catch up with and whether or not we do that depends on whether we beat them,” he told a press conference. Celta played out a six-goal thriller with Real Madrid on Sunday and although his side ended up losing the match 4-2, Berizzo wants a repeat performance against Malaga. “We have to play with the same intensity and character we showed against Real Madrid,” he said. “We should not try and play in any other way. “Malaga occupy the place we want. This is a very good opportunity for us to gain points on them, although after that there will be four matches left with 12 points to play for. And as long as we aren’t ruled out of it mathematically, we’ll keep running and we’ll keep trying to catch them.” Berizzo is without Nemanja Radoja, Carles Planes and Borja Oubina, so the coach has called upon the services of young academy player Borja Fernandez. Malaga boss Gracia has just one absentee in midfielder Ignacio Camacho. But despite having an almost full squad, the coach said he would make changes to the side in order to reverse their negative run of results, with Athletic Bilbao also snapping at their heels in eighth position. “There will be several changes because the team needs them from a physical point of view and from a point of view of our play,” he told a press conference. “I have to be a realist and demanding, because I think there are things we need to improve on and I can predict what might happen if we continue going in the same direction.”
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Team
MP
W
D
L
F
A
G
P
1
Real Madrid
33
26
6
1
71
22
+49
84
2
Barcelona
33
22
7
4
68
39
+29
73
3
Girona
33
22
5
6
69
40
+29
71
4
Atlético de Madrid
33
20
4
9
62
39
+23
64
5
Athletic Bilbao
33
16
10
7
53
33
+20
58
6
Real Sociedad
33
13
12
8
46
35
+11
51
7
Real Betis
33
12
13
8
41
39
+2
49
8
Valencia
33
13
8
12
37
38
-1
47
9
Villarreal
33
12
9
12
54
55
-1
45
10
Getafe
33
10
13
10
41
45
-4
43
11
Osasuna
33
11
6
16
37
49
-12
39
12
Alaves
33
10
8
15
31
38
-7
38
13
Sevilla
33
9
11
13
42
46
-4
38
14
Las Palmas
33
10
7
16
30
41
-11
37
15
Rayo Vallecano
33
7
13
13
27
42
-15
34
16
Mallorca
33
6
14
13
27
39
-12
32
17
Celta Vigo
33
7
10
16
37
50
-13
31
18
Cadiz
33
4
14
15
23
46
-23
26
19
Granada
33
4
9
20
36
61
-25
21
20
Almeria
33
1
11
21
32
67
-35
14
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