Los Blancos eye a spot in the next round and enter as the heavy favorites
Following disappointment in the Spanish Super Cup final where they lost to rivals Barcelona, Real Madrid are back in action in the Copa Del Rey. Returning home to the Santiago Bernabeu from Saudi Arabia, it’s a good chance for Los Blancos to put that poor loss behind them. Facing a middle-of-the-road Celta Vigo side, it’s a good opportunity to move forward in what has become a heated title race in La Liga. Real Madrid currently trail Atletico Madrid by one point for first place so every match will be critical to deciding the title, but all eyes are now on getting through to the next round of the cup.
Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Thursday, Jan. 16 | Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu — Madrid, Spain
- Live stream: ESPN+
- Odds: Real Madrid -500; Draw +525; Celta Vigo +1100
Storylines
Real Madrid: After allowing five goals to Barcelona, it’s fair to expect changes from Real Madrid in this match but considering that they aren’t facing Barcelona, a lot of what they tried in that match would still work here. Things started well with Kylian Mbappe opening the scoring and if these matches are a chance to get the Frenchman up and running then they’ll be useful even if Madrid get knocked out. Focus is on the league and Champions League play but that doesn’t mean that they won’t take this one seriously.
Real Madrid predicted XI: Andriy Lunin, Lucas Vazquez, Raul Asencio, Fran Garcia, Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, Arda Guler, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe
Celta Vigo: While their La Liga form has been middling, Celta have been putting up some big scores in cup play while facing teams from divisions below them. But now with an away trip to face Real Madrid, this is when things get real. Luca De La Torre may not feature with him being linked to a move to San Diego FC and Marcos Alonso has also picked up an ankle injury which could keep him out.
Celta Vigo predicted XI: Vicente Guaita, Javier Manquillo, Carlos Domingez, Carl Starfelt, Oscar Mingueza, Fran Beltran, Ilaix Moriba, Williot Swedberg, Jonathan Bamba, Franco Cervi, Borja Iglesias
Prediction
Los Blancos will let a goal in but this is a match where there will be only one winner as Real Madrid roll over Celta Vigo. Pick: Real Madrid 4, Celta Vigo 1
