La Liga: End Goals in Sight for Impressive Duo

Villarreal vs Celta Vigo

It’s third versus seventh in La Liga on Sunday evening, while largely pleased with their respective campaigns, both sides still have a little work to do if they are to reach their goals.

Villarreal are currently third in the table, 12 points ahead of fifth-placed Real Betis (who drew with Real Madrid on Friday night), while Celta are seventh, level on points with sixth-placed Getafe heading into the final straight.

While that means the Yellow Submarine is almost certain of securing Champions League football again next term, they will be striving to finish in third place ahead of Atletico Madrid, which would be their highest finish in the table since 2008.

They will then certainly want to demonstrate a far improved version in Europe after collecting just one point from their eight group games this term.

Vigo, meanwhile, are chasing the final guaranteed European berth and want to return as quickly as possible (they were eliminated from the Europa League quarter-finals just over a week ago).

Talking Points

That Villarreal have been able to do so well is particularly impressive given they sold two of their best attackers last summer with the departures of Alex Baena and Thierno Barry to Atletico Madrid and Everton, respectively.

Baena was the team’s top playmaker with seven league goals and 10 assists, while Barry had 11 league goals and four assists last season.

If some expected their bubble to burst, it has simply not happened, and recent La Liga 2026 highlights include victory at Athletic Bilbao, although they would have been somewhat disappointed to only draw 1-1 with basement battlers Real Oviedo on Thursday.

Managed by Marcelino, who is out of contract this summer, Villarreal will once again be without the services of Juan Foyth, Pau Cabanes, and Logan Costa through injury this weekend, while Santiago Mourino is a major doubt.

The home side will be boosted by the return of Santi Comesana from suspension, though.

For the visitors, Miguel Roman has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, while Carl Starfelt needs to be assessed before a final decision is made on his fitness.

There’s no doubt that Celta’s run of poor form has come at the worst possible stage of the season, with the Sky Blues hammered by Freiburg in the quarter-finals of the Europa League last week.

Celta Vigo are hoping to bounce back from two successive defeats when they face Villarreal in La Liga — Celta Vigo manager Claudio Giraldez during the La Liga match against Barcelona at Camp Nou

Indeed, Claudio Giraldez’s men have lost each of their last four matches in all competitions and five of their last six, while three of their last four league fixtures have ended in defeat.

There were signs of improvement midweek, though, when the Sky Blues put in a much-improved performance, going down 1-0 to runaway leaders and reigning Spanish champions Barcelona.

It’s not too long since this SBOTOP scribe gave a shoutout to Giraldez, whose work caught me completely by surprise.

A quick look at the club’s budget and squad led to many tipping the Galicians to struggle this year but Giraldez has them faring very well and in contention for a European berth.

Before being appointed as the man to save the club from relegation – which he duly did – the highest level of coaching he had previously experienced was in Spain’s third tier with Celta Fortuna, the club’s B team. Now he is considered amongst the best of the rest over the past couple of years.

Giraldez is also the youngest coach currently plying his trade in La Liga and his team was one of the youngest and most entertaining teams last term, scoring a league fifth-best 59 goals.

If they can climb into the top six over the final month of the season, he will be my manager of the year.

History

It was 1-1 when the pair locked horns in the reverse game earlier this season.

That came early on in the campaign as Borja Iglesias headed home a 94th-minute equaliser for the hosts to cancel out an opener from former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe.

It was far more one-sided on Vigo turf last term as they ran out comfortable 3-0 victors when Fer Lopez, Iglesias, and Iago Aspas (penalty) won the day after Villarreal centre back Eric Bailly was shown a first half red card.

This corresponding match last season was a seven-goal thriller when Dani Parejo was the hero with the winning goal arriving in the 10^th minute of stoppage time.

That sealed a 4-3 victory for Villarreal, who twice came from behind through Sergi Cardona, Barry, and an own goal. Iglesias, Oscar Mingueza, and Starfelt were on target for Vigo.