🏏 Sun, 11 Oct 2026 14:00 CEST
Elche CF
vs
Celta Vigo
5-3-2 vs 3-4-3
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Elche go into this one 18th and inside the relegation zone, with five points from seven matches (1-2-4) and a goal difference of -6, while Celta Vigo arrive 15th on seven points with a +2 differential. Both clubs finally registered their first league win of the season in round seven: Elche won 3-1 at Espanyol, Celta hammered Racing Santander 5-0 at home. With Barcelona already clear on 24 points from eight games, the real business at this end of the table is survival.
- The two profiles are almost opposites. Elche have been box-office but brittle, scoring 11 and conceding 17 in seven rounds, including 3-2 home defeats to both Real Sociedad and Real Madrid. Celta have conceded only six all season and had drawn four in a row before the Racing rout - 1-1 at Getafe, 1-1 with Malaga and a goalless afternoon away to Real Sociedad.
- Three members of the Celta squad have Elche on their CV. Midfielder Aleix Febas, a 30-year-old Real Madrid Castilla graduate known for his close control and passing range, played here, as did Alvaro Nunez, the 26-year-old defender who came through Barcelona B and starts in the back three. Right-back Sergio Carreira, 25, another former Elche player, is among the substitutes.
- Elche's 39-year-old Argentine goalkeeper Mariano Diturro also has Celta in his past, making this a reunion. The 191cm keeper won the Zamora Trophy in Segunda in 2024-25 and was a driving force behind promotion. Facing him is Romania international Ionut Radu, 29, a 188cm product of Inter Milan's academy with spells at Genoa, Parma and Auxerre, protecting the meanest defensive record in the bottom half.
- Elche's midfield trio has clear division of labour. Gonzalo Villar, 28, an academy graduate back at the club after a spell with AS Roma, sets the tempo in tight spaces, while Marc Aguado, 26, a Real Zaragoza youth product, screens the back four. Alongside them, France international Thomas Lemar, 30, a Ligue 1 champion with Monaco and a long-serving Atletico Madrid man, supplies the left-footed passing and invention.
- Celta's engine room leans on Ilaix Moriba, the 23-year-old Guinea international who came through La Masia and has since played for RB Leipzig, Getafe and Valencia. Out wide, 31-year-old Javi Galan - just 170cm, left-footed, back at Celta after Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad - and Javi Rueda, 24, cover the flanks. They will be chased by Elche wingers German Valera, 24, a left-footed Atletico youth product who likes to cut in from the right, and Jose Antonio Morente, 29.
- There is a clear aerial subplot. Fernando Nino, the 191cm, 25-year-old striker who arrived via Mallorca, Villarreal and Burgos, gives Elche a reference point up front, and he will be met by Celta's 188cm Marcos Alonso, 35, a Champions League winner with time at Chelsea and Barcelona, plus homegrown centre-back Joel Lago, 22. Elche's own line is marshalled by Victor Chust, 26, a Real Madrid academy product who joined from Cadiz.
- Celta hold the stronger bench. Iago Aspas, 39 and the club's all-time leading scorer, is still capable of deciding games with his left foot, and 187cm striker Borja Iglesias, 33, returned to Vigo after winning the Copa del Rey with Real Betis and the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen. Uruguay centre-back Sebastian Caceres, 27, named in their 2026 World Cup squad, is also in reserve. Elche's trump card is Argentina attacking midfielder Facundo Buonanotte, 21, who broke through at Brighton and has also been on the books of Leicester and Chelsea.