Preview | Celta v Racing: silence the alarm before the break | OneFootball

For Giráldez it is not a final, but winning before the break would give the team more peace of mind. Racing are looking to quickly forget the thrashing against Barcelona.

It is time to silence the alarm bells in Vigo. In what is surely the week with the most doubts of Claudio Giráldez's spell on the sky-blue bench, the Vigo side are more desperate than ever for a win so that the 3-week break does not create an unbearable atmosphere. Standing in their way will be a Racing side looking to shake off the ghosts of last Wednesday in Barcelona, and if they approach the match in a similar way to how they did at Camp Nou, they could do a lot of damage to the Vigo team.

This week, the sky-blue faithful have begun pointing the finger at the coach for the first time. Claudio has received plenty of criticism for the approaches he has taken in the matches the team have played, where they have barely created chances, the players have lacked inspiration in the final third, and there is a shadow looming—that of the 24/25 season, when the fans believe the team played the classic football of the sky-blue philosophy, which may not be the most competitive but is the most attractive to watch. That lack of football has sparked an identity crisis, which Giráldez has tried to quieten with his usual composure. "I know who I am and I’m not going to change", the Porriño-born coach snapped in a press conference, once again stressing the control the team has over situations and that the lack of sharpness in the final third is what is dragging results down.

Those results speak for themselves. 1 point at home and 3 away, all through draws, which means a record set last season has been repeated. It is the second consecutive start—and the second in the club’s history—in which Celta have failed to win their first 7 official matches. The defeat against Omonia has led the Celta fanbase to place Claudio under fire for the first time, but in reality he is trying to manage as best he can the evolution many teams go through when they begin making regular appearances in Europe. Teams such as Imanol's Real or Valverde's Athletic went through the same process, and Claudio knows he needs solutions to the problems.

On top of that, the sky-blues have key absences, such as El-Abdellaoui, Antañón and especially Iago Aspas, as well as players carrying physical issues, such as Febas and Borja Iglesias, about whom Claudio said that "he is not fit for 45 minutes".

Opposite them is a rival with whom they share many parallels from his early time on the bench. Racing represent the spirit Giráldez had when he arrived, that bravery under which his renewal was announced and which he always showed both in his game plans and in press conferences. "If we have to lose, let it be this way" declared the Porriño-born coach when Celta lost 4-3 to Villarreal at La Cerámica.

It seems little remains of that bravery, but teams like Racing still maintain that flair in their football. José Alberto's team are proving to be one of the most entertaining in the championship. What was seen in the Segunda is being confirmed: it is a team that creates a huge amount in attack and always tries to dominate, but they have many shortcomings in defence. Their bold approach at Camp Nou ended in a heavy defeat, and although the fans were left angry by their team’s display, José Alberto knew what he was getting into and made sweeping rotations, giving rest to Salinas, Íñigo Vicente and Zabiri.

A choice had to be made about which match offered the best chance of getting points, and the coach went all in on Balaídos. So far the Cantabrians have not picked up any points away from home, with defeats against Getafe, Rayo and Barça. If they fail to get anything again, it will be a hard blow, but the good news is that Almeida returns after suspension. The Portuguese player is expected to start, while Andrés Martín and Eriksson remain sidelined.

Both sides come into this urgently needing a win, and if they fail to pick up points, the break will feel long. We will see an entertaining match, with swings both ways, in which the winner will not be the side that defends best, but the one more inspired in attack. Celta need to rediscover their cutting edge up front and hope that against a rival who does not sit deep—one of the reasons Claudio gave for the lack of goals—they can start creating and scoring again. Racing will try to exploit their directness to claim 3 points that would further increase the satisfaction of a José Alberto who was happy with the points tally they currently have.

Probable line-ups

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.