🏏 Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:30 CEST
Celta Vigo
vs
Athletic Club
3-4-3 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
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Match Preview
- Two winless sides meet on matchday three. Athletic Club are rock bottom in 20th with zero points and a minus-four goal difference, while Celta sit 16th on a single point from a draw and a defeat. With Real Madrid already banked on nine points from three games, the margin for a slow start is disappearing fast.
- Athletic have shipped five goals in two matches, losing 0-2 away at Barcelona on the opening weekend and then 1-3 at home to Sevilla. Those numbers look strange for a back line built around Aymeric Laporte and Aitor Paredes with Spain international Unai Simon, all 190cm of him, behind them. Fixing the defence is job one.
- Celta's problem is at the other end: one goal in two games, a 1-2 home loss to Osasuna followed by a goalless draw at Valencia. Ferran Jutgla, the 27-year-old who arrived in 2025 after a prolific spell at Club Brugge, leads a front three completed by Hugo Gonzalez and Sweden's Williot Swedberg.
- The shape battle is Celta's 3-4-3 against Athletic's 4-2-3-1. Sergio Carreira, a natural right-back who won his place back after loans at Elche and Mirandes, and the equally attack-minded Alvaro Nunez start as wing-backs, tasked with stretching Athletic's back four and pinning their full-backs deep.
- Athletic's double pivot mixes generations: 23-year-old Benat Gerenabarrena, promoted from the B team after a loan spell at Castellon, alongside 33-year-old Ruiz de Galarreta, who rebuilt his career across several Segunda clubs. Containing the box-to-box drive of 23-year-old Ilaix Moriba will go a long way towards deciding the tempo.
- The headline duel is Aymeric Laporte against Ferran Jutgla. The 32-year-old left-footed centre-back won the Premier League and the Champions League with Manchester City before a spell at Al-Nassr and a return to his former club; Jutgla thrives on runs in behind and aggressive pressing. Cutting off Laporte's long left-footed diagonals is a key task for Celta.
- Athletic lead the line with captain Inaki Williams, 32, an iron man who holds a LaLiga consecutive-appearance record and has been a regular for Ghana. He faces a Celta back three featuring 21-year-old Abdoulaye Faye, a 191cm left-footer who came through Hacken and Bayer Leverkusen with a loan at Lorient, and Sweden international Carl Starfelt, a title winner with Celtic.
- Athletic's bench carries genuine firepower: Nico Williams, 24, who scored in the EURO 2024 final and was named player of the tournament, plus 188cm Gorka Guruzeta, a Copa del Rey winner with the club, and 192cm Morocco international Maroan Sannadi. If the game opens up late, the visitors have options in reserve.
- Celta counter from the bench with Iago Aspas, the club's all-time leading scorer, whose left foot and set-piece delivery remain sharp at 39 after earlier stints with Sevilla and Liverpool. Alongside him waits 23-year-old left-footed winger Hugo Alvarez, a Spain Under-21 international, giving the academy-schooled pair the job of changing a game that has been short on goals.