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Who:<\/strong> Celta Vigo vs Real Madrid After back-to-back defeats, Real Madrid will try to get back on the winning path in La Liga before it faces its new European nemesis.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Madrid has slumped to consecutive Liga losses, 2-1 at Osasuna and a 1-0 implosion against lowly Getafe in its own Bernabeu Stadium.<\/p>\n On Friday, it will try to rebound at Celta Vigo while trailing leader Barcelona by four points.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at a potentially season-defining few days for Los Blancos.<\/p>\n After the Celta game, Alvaro Arbeloa\u2019s side can fully focus on its home game against Manchester City to start their Champions League round-of-16 tie next week.<\/p>\n Madrid and City have met in the knockout rounds for the four previous years, with Madrid advancing the last two times at the expense of Pep Guardiola\u2019s side. City, however, beat Madrid already this season in the regular season.<\/p>\n Arbeloa, however, says his team will not look past the game in Vigo, and reverse their form in the Spanish top flight.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a team like Real Madrid, defeat is always difficult to handle due to the expectations and demands, but right now the only thing we are thinking about is [the Celta] match,\u201d coach Arbeloa said on Thursday. \u201cThat\u2019s the only thing that concerns us.\u201d<\/p>\n Celta, in sixth place, has won four in a row, covering the league and Europa League.<\/p>\n Real, meanwhile, will hope to close the gap to one point to leaders Barcelona, who visit Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re four points behind, not 18. This is Real Madrid. As long as we can mathematically fight, we will, and if there ever comes a time when we can no longer fight, we will still keep fighting,\u201d said Arbeloa, who replaced Xabi Alonso as coach in January.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the dressing room, we\u2019re aware that there\u2019s still a lot of the season left.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had two consecutive league defeats. Of course, at a club like Real Madrid, defeat is always difficult to handle because of the expectations and the pressure, but right now the only thing we\u2019re thinking about is tomorrow\u2019s match.\u201d<\/p>\n Celta shocked Real earlier this season with a 2-0 win at Estadio Bernabeu in La Liga.<\/p>\n Williot Swedberg scored a second-half double in the match on December 7, which saw three Real players sent off.<\/p>\n Fran Garcia was shown red just after Swedberg\u2019s 54th-minute opener, while Endrick and Alvaro Carreras were given their marching orders in injury time.<\/p>\n Real Madrid recorded a 2-1 at Celta in the same fixture last season.<\/p>\n Kylian Mbappe set Los Blancos on their way in the first half, before Swedberg levelled early in the second, only for Vinicius to net the winner in the 66th minute.<\/p>\n This will be the 139th meeting between the sides, with Real Madrid winning 82 of the meetings. Celta have emerged victorious on 35 occasions.<\/p>\n Despite Celta\u2019s win at Real earlier this season, they have not won a home game against Los Blancos since 2014.<\/p>\n The Madrid-based club have won nine of the 11 trips to Vigo since then.<\/p>\n Striker Borja Iglesias, who has 14 goals to his name this season, returns from suspension.<\/p>\n Marcos Alonso, Carl Starfelt and Pablo Duran are all carrying knocks and are set to be sidelined for the visit of Real.<\/p>\n Radu; Rodriguez, Aidoo, Dominguez; Mingueza, Roman, Moriba, Carreira; Jutgla, Iglesias, Alvarez<\/p>\n Madrid striker and league top scorer Kylian Mbappe is out with a left knee sprain. Jude Bellingham is sidelined by a left thigh injury, and Rodrygo is out for the rest of the season after an ACL tear.<\/p>\n \u201cI talk to him every day,\u201d Arbeloa said about Mbappe. \u201cEach day he\u2019s getting better; it\u2019s a process where we\u2019re taking it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n Dani Ceballos, David Alaba, and Eder Militao are also injured.<\/p>\n Franco Mastantuono is suspended following his red card against Getafe, while Alvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen have both reached milestone yellow cards, so they also miss out.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re winning, and everyone is playing well, it\u2019s easy to wear this shirt,\u201d added Arbeloa, who insisted that he would not \u201cmake excuses\u201d due to the injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to show our true potential now. It\u2019s in moments like these that you see if we\u2019re worthy of wearing this shirt and this badge.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Asensio, Rudiger, F Garcia; Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga; Guler; G Garcia, Vinicius<\/p>\n Celta Vigo form (all competitions \u2013 most recent game last):<\/p>\n Real Madrid form (all competitions \u2013 most recent game last):<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Who: Celta Vigo vs Real MadridWhat: Spanish football\u2019s La LigaWhere: Balaidos Stadium in Vigo, SpainWhen: Friday, March 5 at 9pm (20:00 GMT)How to follow: Al Jazeera\u2018s live coverage begins at 17:00 GMT. After back-to-back defeats, Real Madrid will try to get back on the winning path in La Liga before it faces its new European […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
What:<\/strong> Spanish football\u2019s La Liga
Where:<\/strong> Balaidos Stadium in Vigo, Spain
When:<\/strong> Friday, March 5 at 9pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow:<\/strong> Al Jazeera\u2018s live coverage begins at 17:00 GMT.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Arbeloa says Real Madrid\u2019s focus is fully on Celta Vigo<\/h2>\n
How is La Liga shaping up for Real Madrid and Celta Vigo?<\/h2>\n
What happened the last time Celta Vigo played Real Madrid?<\/h2>\n
What happened in the corresponding Celta Vigo and Real Madrid fixture last season?<\/h2>\n
Head-to-head<\/h2>\n
Stat attack \u2013 Celta vs Real<\/h2>\n
Celta Vigo team news<\/h2>\n
Predicted Celta Vigo lineup<\/h2>\n
Real Madrid team news<\/h2>\n
Predicted Real Madrid lineup<\/h2>\n
Celta Vigo and Real Madrid form guides<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"