Atl. Madrid vs Celta Vigo prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-05-11 14:15.
[p]Atlético Madrid recovered from a late-season stumble to move one step closer to confirming their 12th consecutive UEFA Champions League appearance. Controlled wins over Athletic Club (3-1 at home) and Mallorca (1-0 away) mean that they may only need to maintain a near-perfect record at the Wanda Metropolitano to finish in La Liga’s top four after starting this round six points ahead of fifth-placed Athletic.[/p]
[p]Long-time manager Diego Simeone has asked his players to “not stop pushing” until the campaign is over, and their last two home outings, a pair of 3-1 wins in which they scored in both halves each time, suggest that they’re not in the mood to rest on their laurels. Atlético are not far off recording their best La Liga season on their own turf under the Argentinian, having only dropped points to Getafe (3-3) and Barcelona (3-0), while they’ve led at half-time in a league-high ten home games ahead of the round. [/p]
[p]After three wins under new boss Claudio Giráldez (D1, L2), the most recent of which came at home to Villarreal (3-2), visitors Celta Vigo are close to ensuring that their soured centenary celebrations at least won’t end up in mourning the end of their 12-season stay in the top flight.[/p]
[p]Sunday promises to be a special occasion for Giráldez, who played for Atlético’s reserve team. But recent club history suggests that he’ll need to conjure some magic to collect three points as a manager here: not only have Celta lost every La Liga match against current top-five sides this season (with an aggregate score of 6-19), but one has to go back to September 2018 to recall Celta’s last win over their upcoming opponents (D3, L7 since).[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Antoine Griezmann was the star of the show the last time these teams met, getting a hat-trick in a 3-0 victory for Atlético, and on the prior two occasions that he scored at Celta, he also found the net in the follow-up reverse H2H. Tasos Douvikas could join him on the scoresheet, with ten of his 12 competitive goals this term coming after half-time.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: AtlĂ©tico have surprisingly collected just four clean sheets at home in La Liga this season – among the fewest in the division.[/p]