Next Sunday, 24th of August 2014, Celta de Vigo will entertain Getafe at Los Balaídos on what will be both sides first match at Liga BBVA this season.

The first official match of the season marks the beginning of a new era at Celta de Vigo after Luis Enrique’s move to Barcelona this Summer. The current Blaugrana manager did a fantastic job at the helm of the Galician team last term and now it is up to Eduardo Berizzo to carry on with what Luis Enrique has started.

Recent media reports tell us that the Argentinean manager, Toto Berizzo, is even more demanding during training sessions than Luis Enrique and the truth is that Celta’s recent performances have been fairly impressive. Berizzo, who played for Celta back in his footballer’s days, is a confessed admired of the work of Marcelo Bielsa, with whom he learnt a lot while working as an assistant manager at the Chilean National Team, but and nevertheless, Toto has his own style. The Galician team only lost once during the pre-season and in their last three matches they scored some impressive nine goals and conceded only one.

The Summer transfer window brought several new faces to Los Balaídos: the versatile Argentinean forward Joaquin Larrivey, the talented Serbian midfielder Nemanja Radoja and the Chilean attacking midfielder Pablo Hernández, some of the assets Berizzo will have at his disposal this season, in order to somehow compensate for the return of Rafinha to Barcelona and the lack of options for the forward line that Luis Enrique experienced last season.

As for Getafe, the new season starts with an always complicated travel to Los Balaídos to face a team that is exuding confidence (and that usually is fairly dangerous when playing at home). The Azulones’ manager, Cosmin Contra, who was the mastermind behind Getafe’s escape from relegation last season, will have several new players at his disposal for the new campaign. The Spanish goalkeeper, Vicente Guaita, who is probably the most important signing of Getafe so far, arrived from Valencia to compensate for Moya’s departure to Atlético Madrid this Summer and he has recently assumed that this is the right opportunity for him to relaunch his career. Another new face in the team is the French midfielder Karim Yoda, who arrived from the Romanian side Astra Giurgiu and who will certainly be of major importance for Cosmin Contra.

The last time both sides met at Los Balaídos was back in February on a match that ended in a 1-1 draw. For next Sunday’s match, however, and judging by both sides recent performances, Celta de Vigo must be considered favourites to win the clash.

Celta

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WWWDD

Getafe

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - DLWWW

Possible Line-ups

Celta de Vigo (4-3-3) - Sérgio Álvarez - Hugo Mallo - Fontàs - Cabral - Jonny - Álex Lopez - Radoja - Krohn Dehli - Orellana - Nolito - Larrivey

Getafe (4-2-3-1) - Guaita - Rafa - Escudero - Arroyo - Denis - Lacen - Pedro León - Míchel -  Yoda - Freddy - Ivi.

Prediction

Celta de Vigo 2 Getafe 0