Real Madrid vs Celta Vigo: Match preview | OneFootball

After being steamrolled by their arch-rivals, Real Madrid now brace themselves for another challenge, taking on Celta Vigo in the Copa Del Rey Round of 16.

Thibaut Courtois is the only notable absentee from the squad, with Carlo Ancelotti surprisingly choosing to rest the Belgian.

Defensively, Raul Asencio is in line to start this match after a poor performance from Aurelien Tchouaméni. The young defender has shown his class this season and has been a breath of fresh air in the squad.

It will be interesting to see who will play as right back, with the club still pushing to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold but are not as optimistic as before.

Fede Valverde, Asencio and Lucas Vazquez are options Real Madrid can explore in that particular position. The Uruguayan has done decently in that position and can be now relied upon in the upcoming matches instead of Vazquez. Carlo Ancelotti may not be a fan of starting Asencio as a right back since the Spaniard is not used to playing as a full back.

Fran García had a better cameo than Ferland Mendy’s entire match against Barcelona and may get an opportunity to start in this match.

Also, Rüdiger has some knee issues, according to reports, and it will be up to the Italian manager to take a call with his involvement. David Alaba is a someone who will soon receive a green light to get minutes. That is when the German can be treated upon.

Ancelotti has also been considering switching to a 4-4-2, dropping Rodrygo and playing Fede Valverde on the right and Jude Bellingham on the left.

Rodrygo would feel hard done by if he is dropped since the Brazilian has been in form and looked a completely different player against Barcelona.

It was clearly visible that Jude was uncomfortable in the last match. He may have had a muscle strain and was one of the few players who trained inside the facilities two days prior to this match.

Kylian Mbappe was a bright spot in the last match and showed that he has the capability and skills to turn a game on its head, but would have liked it if he had some luck on his side too.

Celta Vigo, the opponents for this knockout match, are in the middle of the league table sitting on 12th with 7 wins in 19 matches and just 3 losses.

Their best player has been the veteran striker Iago Aspas with 6 goals and 3 assists. Celta will surely miss the experience of Aspas who is ruled out of this fixture due to an injury.

Borja Iglesias is an underrated player with 5 goals. Other than that, former Barcelona full back, Oscar Mingueza has 2 goals and 5 assists in the league, with one of the assists being against Real Madrid, this season.

Defensively, Celta is vulnerable, having conceded 30 goals in La Liga. They were also pushed to the brink by 2nd division side Racing de Santander in the Round of 32 and eventually scrapped past them by 2-3.

Changes are expected in the Madrid side and Carlo Ancelotti’s men possess the ability to make the side pay. The Bernabeu faithful will not be as amused and Real Madrid will have to put up a strong performance in order to show the crowd that it was just a bad game.