Celta Vigo host Real Madrid at the Estadio Municipal de Balaidos on Sunday evening with the visitors hoping to close the gap at the top of La Liga.

Real find themselves five points behind Barcelona after Barca's 2-0 win over Espanyol in the Derbi Barceloni on Saturday and Carlo Ancelotti's men will be desperate to get to within two points of their rivals.

Los Blancos will come into the game in good spirits after finally beating Atletico Madrid in the eighth meeting between the sides this season to set up a Champions League semi-final with Italian giants, Juventus.

Ancelotti is a former Juventus manager and believes Real can beat his old club. “Juventus are a club with a legendary history who are returning to the semi-finals after 12 years, they are having a very good season and have practically won the Italian championship. That means they can focus more on the Champions League. We are confident that we can follow our dream, which is to reach another Final after last year,” said the Italian in an interview with UEFA.com.

However, before Ancelotti can start to concern himself with reaching the Champions League Final he will first have to negotiate three La Liga games, starting with the trip to Balaidos and he will have to do so without some of his key stars. Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric are still injured and Sergio Ramos could join them on the sidelines as Real look for a fifth successive La Liga win since losing to Barca last month.

Celta Vigo sit safely in ninth place in La Liga. With safety guaranteed Eduardo Berizzo's men can afford to look up and with a gap of just four points to seventh place "Os Celestes" still hold an outside chance of qualifying for next year's Europa League.

Berizzo's team have been in good form recently, taking ten points from their last five games with the highlight being a 6-1 win over Rayo Vallecano. Overall their home form hasn't been great with just 22 of their 42 points coming up Balaidos and that is something they will be keen to improve on.

Celta will be without Carles Planas and Nemanja Radoja for the visit of the European champions but otherwise Berizzo has a full squad at his disposal. Berizzo has said there will be no special plans for this game and Celta will play their usual way. “We’re a side that has never moved away from our ideas, our style of play has always been the same and tomorrow it won’t change. Playing with a lot of intensity and playing together to recover the ball will be crucial,” Berizzo said in his pre match press conference.

Celta have already upset one giant from Madrid at Balaidos this season when they beat Atletico 2-0 in February and they will be hoping for a similar result here. However, Real will be desperate for the three points to keep their title hopes alive but they will know that anything less than their best performance could see them slip up and put Barcelona on the brink of the title.

Possible Teams

Celta Vigo: Sergio; Mallo, Fontas, Cabral, Jonny; Dehli, Augusto; Santi Mina, Orellana, Nolito and Larrivey.

Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Varane, Marcelo; James, Silva, Kroos, Isco; Ronaldo and Hernandez.

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About the author
Gerry Johnston
Cover Spanish and Italian football for VAVEL UK.