5 bold La Liga predictions: Espanyol and Sevilla draw in battle of the contenders

2. Real and Celta play out thriller at Balaidos

Santiago Solari may only be seen as a stopgap solution, but he’s helped Real Madrid regain their confidence with three consecutive wins, including a 5-0 rout of Viktoria Plzen midweek. All three games were clean sheets for Los Blancos as well, a refreshing sign for them after how leaky they had been under Julen Lopetegui.

Wins against Melilla, Valladolid and Plzen don’t hide their issues, though, and they could easily come to the fore once again. Plzen hit the crossbar early on on Wednesday and Sergio Ramos should have been sent off, so that game could have been wildly different. Celta have issues of their own, but they certainly can’t be called reactive — they utilize an open style in order to bring the best out of their attacking firepower. Therefore, they could expose the instability of Real’s back line, but the match could easily turn into a shootout.

Marcelo and Dani Carvajal are both unavailable due to injury, so Alvaro Odriozola and Sergio Reguilon are the starters. Neither are ideal because Odriozola struggles to balance his responsibilities correctly which can leave the defense exposed and Reguilon is inexperienced. The center of defense is also stretched thin with Ramos and Nacho the only fit senior players.

The rest of the team is pretty much at full strength and Solari has been willing to give chances to players such as Dani Ceballos and Vinicius Junior. They’ve switched back to a style similar to Zinedine Zidane’s in that it relies on quick transitions and utilizing the flanks to create high-quality chances from overloads. This Celta side have conceded 16 league goals which is the joint-fourth highest, so Real’s forward line can certainly take advantage.

Celticos come into this game in red-hot form in front of goal with seven goals in the last two league games. There was a 1-1 draw in between those against Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey, but it was a heavily rotated lineup. They managed a stunning fightback in their last match, to earn a point away at Betis.

Maxi Gomez scored two against Betis after coming on as a substitute while Iago Aspas has four goals in his last three matches. They’ll be relishing the chance to take on this Real Madrid defense. Gomez, in particular, will be a major physical nuisance to deal with. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a red card if the Uruguayan is able to unsettle Ramos and cause him to do something hot-headed.