Next Saturday, 31st of January 2015, a free falling Celta de Vigo will entertain a rejuvenated Córdoba at Los Balaidos for round 21 of the Spanish Liga BBVA, on a match that the Galician need to win in order to restore the team’s already fragile morale and to put an end to this never ending row of league defeats that has placed the team only five points above the relegation zone.

Celta de Vigo have placed another rusty nail on their already perforated coffin when they visited Getafe last Monday night. The Galician team left behind a very pale image of themselves and ended up by losing the match 2-1 against a team that hadn’t achieved a win in La Liga after the departure of Cosmin Contra. Celta managed to open the score at Coliseum Alfonso Perez thanks to an early goal by the Brazilian forward Charles, who responded quickly after a throw-in from Nolito. Los Celestes weren’t able to withstand Getafe’s pressure and just four minutes later conceded the equalizer when Alvaro Vazquez escaped their defence line and showed no mercy to a hopeless Sergio Alvarez. Los Azulones were always the best team and they deservedly obtained the winning goal by the hand of Sarabia after a brilliant back heel assist of Sammir on the 85th minute of match, seven minutes after Diego Castro tried to imitate Panenka without any success from the penalty spot.

Celta are now on a very complicated situation and they are forced to win next weekend’s clash against a complicated Córdoba that forced Real Madrid to put in some extra work last Saturday. Toto Berizzo is on a delicate position and he is aware of that. At the end of last Monday’s match, the Argentinean manager claimed that he would understand if Celta’s board decided to part ways with him at the present moment.

As for Córdoba, the Andalusian team are definitely a new team ever since Miroslav Djukic assumed the helm of their adrift vessel last October.

Last Saturday, Córdoba put up a quality performance against Real Madrid at Nuevo Arcángel and, if it wasn’t for Gareth Bale’s late goal, they would have achieved a precious and probably deserved point against the current European and World champions.

A win at Balaídos next weekend would allow Los Califas to reach Celta at La Liga’s table and they will certainly do everything within their reach to cause Los Celestes another major upset.

Celta

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

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Córdoba

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

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Possible Line-ups

Celta de Vigo (4-3-3) - Sérgio Álvarez - Jonny - Fontas - Planas - Cabral - Augusto - Radoja - Krohn Dehli - Orellana - Nolito - Larrivey

Córdoba (4-2-3-1) - J. Carlos - Pantic - Edimar - Gunino - Crespo - Deivid - Rossi - Fran - Bebe - Ghilas - Andone

Prediction

Celta de Vigo 1 Córdoba 1