🏏 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 14:00 CEST
Celta Vigo
vs
Malaga
3-4-3 vs 4-4-2
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- A meeting of two sides still hunting a first win of the campaign. Celta sit 16th on three points from five games (0-3-2, two scored, five conceded), while promoted Malaga are 18th on two points from four (0-2-2, one scored, seven conceded). With Barcelona already on 12 points from four matches, both clubs need to stop the early drift.
- Celta's recent sequence reads D-L-L-D-D. They have been stubborn on the road, drawing 0-0 at Valencia, 0-0 at Real Sociedad and 1-1 at Getafe, but home form has been the problem: a 1-2 defeat to Osasuna and a 0-2 loss to Athletic Club. Three draws have all come with one goal or fewer, underlining the need for a cutting edge in front of their own crowd.
- Malaga are back in the top flight for the first time in eight seasons and their two defeats both came away from home, 0-2 at Atletico Madrid and 0-4 at Real Madrid. Those two trips account for six of the seven goals they have shipped. At home they have been far tighter, drawing 1-1 with Deportivo La Coruna and 0-0 with Levante.
- The shape battle pits Celta's 3-4-3 against Malaga's 4-4-2. Celta stretch the pitch with two natural full-backs in the wide midfield slots: 25-year-old Sergio Carreira, only 170cm but relentless up and down the flank, and 24-year-old Javi Rueda, a UEFA Youth League winner in Real Madrid's academy. Malaga answer with Joaquin Munoz and David Larrubia wide, both built for transition running.
- Celta's front three features 27-year-old Ferran Jutgla through the middle, a prolific scorer at Club Brugge before his 2025 move, flanked by left-footed academy graduate Hugo Alvarez, 23, and 33-year-old Hugo Gonzalez, a 187cm Valencia youth product who can operate on either wing. With only two goals in five matches, finding space behind Malaga's back line is the priority.
- In midfield, 23-year-old Ilaix Moriba carries the load for the hosts. A La Masia graduate who has since played for RB Leipzig, Valencia and Getafe, he blends physicality with technique in a box-to-box role. Behind him, 35-year-old Marcos Alonso anchors the left of the back three, offering 188cm of aerial presence and the set-piece delivery that brought him titles at Chelsea and Barcelona.
- Malaga's attack revolves around 22-year-old Carlos Ruiz, who won the Segunda golden boot with 25 goals and combines a 185cm frame with genuine finishing. Alongside him, No.10 David Larrubia, 24, supplies the creativity and dead-ball quality that produced the goal which sealed promotion, while 23-year-old Dani Lorenzo drives through the lines with his physical dribbling.
- Captain Alfonso Herrero, 32, has been Malaga's constant, playing 129 of a possible 130 league games across three seasons and recording 13 clean sheets last term to underpin promotion. In front of him, 32-year-old Einar Galilea, an Alaves academy product who extended his deal to 2027 after spells at Istra 1961 and Sochaux, partners 185cm 23-year-old Angel Recio.
- Both benches carry match-changing options. Celta can call on 39-year-old Iago Aspas, the club's all-time leading scorer, whose left foot and close-quarters invention remain a late-game weapon. Malaga counter with 188cm Sweden international Jens Cajuste, formerly of Napoli and Ipswich, and 22-year-old Adrian Nino, an Atletico Madrid youth product who scored 12 goals last season.