Preview:Celta Vigo vs Real Betis - prediction, team news, lineups

Celta Vigo will attempt to claim their first win of the season when they welcome Real Betis to Balaidos for Wednesday's La Liga clash.

Meanwhile, Los Verdiblancos will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign in a game that has been brought forward from matchday six.

Match preview

Claudio Giraldez experienced success in his first full season as Celta Vigo boss last term, steering the club to a seventh-placed finish after recording 16 wins, seven draws and 15 defeats in 38 matches.

As a result, Celta secured qualification for the Europa League main draw, ensuring that they will play European football for the first time in eight years.

However, the demands of balancing domestic action with their European obligations represent a new challenge for Giraldez, and he will be aware that it will be a tough ask to match last season's impressive campaign.

The Galician side have made an underwhelming start to the new season, falling to a 2-0 home defeat in their opening league game against Getafe, before playing out a 1-1 draw in Saturday's away clash against Mallorca.

Javi Rueda's first La Liga goal put Celta in a strong position to clinch all three points at Son Moix, but Mallorca's Mateu Morey netted an 87th-minute equaliser to ensure that the spoils were shared.

Celta may still fancy their chances of picking up their first win of the season in Wednesday's fixture, considering that they have won each of their last three home games against Betis, including a comeback 3-2 victory in February.

Like Celta, Betis will also compete in the Europa League league phase after they achieved a top-six finish for the fourth time in five seasons.

Los Verdiblancos will be targeting European qualification again this season, although they may be dreaming of mounting a top-four push in a bid to play Champions League football for the first time since 2005-06.

Manuel Pellegrini's side kicked off the 2025-26 campaign with a frustrating 1-1 draw against newly-promoted Elche, before they officially got their season up and running with a narrow win in Friday's home clash with Alaves.

Giovani Lo Celso scored the only goal of Betis' first game of their two-year stay at Estadio La Cartuja, with their usual stadium, the Estadio Benito Villamarin, undergoing renovation works.

Betis will now head on their travels with hopes of claiming their first away win over Celta since picking up a 3-2 victory in May 2021.

They will also be targeting a strong defensive display, having failed to keep an away league clean sheet since January's 1-0 win over Mallorca.

Celta Vigo La Liga form:

L D

Real Betis La Liga form:

D W

Team News

Celta defender Carl Starfelt is expected to be out for around three weeks after he sustained a hamstring injury in training last week.

Forward Hugo Alvarez sat out Saturday’s contest due to illness, and it remains to be seen whether he will recover in time to feature in Wednesday’s squad.

Giraldez could make a number of changes in a bid to freshen up his side, with Oscar Mingueza, Fran Beltran, Williot Swedberg and Borja Iglesias all pushing for starting berths.

As for Betis, they remain without their talismanic playmaker Isco who is expected to be out of action until November.

The visitors are also expected to be without Diego Llorente, Nelson Deossa, Marc Roca and Abde Ezzalzouli due to injury.

Ricardo Rodriguez, Pablo Garcia and Cedric Bakambu are among those who could come into the side if Pellegrini opts to make changes for the midweek fixture.

Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:

Radu; Rodriguez, Domiguez, Alonso; Mingueza, Beltran, Moriba, Carreira; Duran, Swedberg, Iglesias

Real Betis possible starting lineup:

Lopez; Bellerin, Bartra, Natan, Rodriguez; Fornals, Altimira; Garcia, Lo Celso, Riquelme; Bakambu

We say: Celta Vigo 1-1 Real Betis

Celta may have won their last three home games against Betis, but they have experienced a frustrating start to the season, and we think that they may have to settle for a draw when they face a Betis side that have taken four points from their opening two La Liga matches.

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