Match Preview: Celta Vigo vs Man United

Match Preview
May 4, 2017
4 min read

It's a big European semifinal and its simple! Win and we will be in the final in Stockholm, Sweden on 24th May.

The match kicks off at 10:05 PM EAT with the second leg scheduled for Thursday next week at Old Trafford.

The match will be broadcast live on BT Sport in the UK, but as always we give you the link to access such channels wherever you are in Africa. (cricfree.sc/football-live-stream)

Any latest team news? Yeah sure...

The boss revealed in his press conference yesterday that defenders Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Eric Bailly who all trained yesterday are fit and in contention to start.

That's of course a major boost, I couldn't imagine Darmian playing at center-back!

Paul Pogba and Juan Mata are expected to feature tonight after missing the last game against Swansea, meaning our attack is well represented with only Zlatan Ibrahimovic missing.

Tim Fosuh-Mensah remains sidelined alongside Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw so generally expect a strong lineup tonight.

Tell me something about Celta...

Well, they are a mid-table (11th) team in La Liga but by no means are they pushovers.

Yes, they have lost their last 3 games but having beaten Barcelona a while back, and having rested key players, we have our work cut out to beat them.

They have not lost in 5 Europa League games despite them keeping only 1 clean-sheet in the competition.

They are new in a major European semifinal and obviously its the first ever time they'll face United.

Celta have lost their last three games against English opposition and this should be a forth defeat looking at the class and quality we possess.

We may have drawn 1-1 with Swansea at home, but we remain 25 games beaten in the Premier League, we have also only lost 2 of our last 32 games in all competitions.

We will have to be on top of our game, attack from the start and I see a happy ending after 90 minutes.

This is our main priority- to lift the Europa League which we have never lifted before and in the process, seal our Champions League place.

Last night Ajax beat Lyon 4-1 in the other semifinal in Amsterdam so chances are if we overcome Celta, we'll face the Dutch in Stockholm.

Any players to watch?

Yes, certainly Celta's main threat is former Liverpool striker Iago Aspas who has 17 goals in La Liga this season, another is John Guidetti- a former Manchester City player so you can guess they'll be fired up to face us.

Iago Aspas is Celta Vigo's main man with 17 La Liga goals.

Meanwhile, we have our own Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan who could make history tonight if he scores. So they'll have to be good to handle our attacking players and the control and trickery of Paul Pogba.

Elsewhere on the pitch, you can expect Eric Bailly to pocket Iago Aspas for about 90 minutes.

Bailly is back in full training despite limping off against Swansea

What are the managers and players saying?

The Celta Vigo coach Eduardo Berizzo had this to say. "We need to be faithful to who we are. My team has a strong identity and the players believe in it.

[The identity is about] a lot of possession, a lot of pressure and a desire to win the ball back quickly when we lose it.

The only way to beat Manchester United is to be faithful to who we are."

Their captain Hugo Mallo has also been paying attention to our injury crisis and noted. "I think the injuries in defence for Manchester United are not really something to be happy about.

They are a great team and as players we don't fix our eyes on that."

Jose returns to familiar territory having managed Real Madrid in Spain, and he knows what we have to do to beat Celta.

"In a competition with so many teams, with very good balance, almost every team in the knockout phase was of the same level, they managed to be in the semi-final.

"I think that says everything [about Celta]. Because of their situation in La Liga, a comfortable situation, they also managed to think just about the Europa League, to rest players, to be in the maximum condition. It’s a difficult game for us."

Antonio Valencia also gave his view of the match after the boss and added.

"We are not the favorites but we are Manchester United and that's a responsibility we bear. We have to demonstrate who we are and we have to show it tomorrow.

"We know Celta are a strong team. They haven't lost their last five or six matches in this competition so we know it's going to be a good match. We hope to concentrate, perform well and to get a good result from it."

"This competition would give us the ticket to the Champions League, it's true, but I think the most important thing for Manchester United is the Europa League trophy itself," said Valencia.

Valencia is even pleased to welcome his defensive partners in this testing time.

"It's been a long competition and thank God we have regained two of the defenders [Jones and Smalling] and Juan Mata is also back so that is all very good for us."

Any other stats I should know?

Celta Vigo have recorded eight goals from outside the penalty area this season; two more than any other side, this is 42 per cent of their total goals, the highest ratio of any side to score 10+ goals.

United have failed to win any of the last six times they have faced Spanish opposition beyond the group stages in European competition (D1 L5).

Celta Vigo have lost their last three European matches against English sides, their last victory coming against Aston Villa in 2000.