On Thursday evening, Osasuna traveled to Catalonia to face Girona on Matchday 3, hoping to extend their unbeaten start to the season after a 1-1 draw against Leganes on opening day and a narrow 1-0 home victory against Mallorca last weekend.
However, things did not go as planned, and the Rojillos suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat at Montilivi.
Last season, Osasuna finished 11th in the standings, a drop from two previous strong seasons where they finished in the top half of the table. If there was a team that had not been expected to perform poorly, it would have been Celta Vigo.
The Galician club had started the season strongly with two wins in their first two games, beating Alaves 2-1 and Valencia 3-1, both at home.
However, they encountered a setback midweek, losing 4-3 away at Villarreal in a high-energy match. The big question for Celta fans is how long they can maintain this level of intensity. The answer will become clear in the coming weeks.
Looking ahead, Celta Vigo may be without key players like Luca de la Torre and Ristic (calf injury) for their trip to Pamplona. Additionally, Franco Cervi and Tadeo Allende were not included in the squad for the Villarreal match. This week saw the debut of Iglesias, who joined on loan from Real Betis, as well as impressive performances from defenders Starfelt and Mingueza, who both scored.
As expected, Unai Nunez (an important player) was loaned out to Bilbao, while Kevin Vazquez left for Gijon, and Marcos Alonso (formerly of Chelsea) signed as a free agent from FC Barcelona.
In terms of departures, Celta Vigo experienced a major loss with the transfer of Larsen (who scored 13 goals in La Liga last season) to Wolverhampton in the Premier League.
Other departures included Tapia (crucial but injury-prone last season), Dotor Carlos (Real Oviedo), Miguel Rodriguez (Utrecht), Carles Perez (Getafe), and Manu Sanchez (Alaves). On the other hand, Celta strengthened their squad with the permanent signing of Manquillo from Newcastle and the loan acquisition of Ilaix Moriba from RB Leipzig.
Prediction
Celta Vigo has been in excellent form, whether playing at home or away, evidenced by their record of 15 wins and five draws in their last 20 top-flight matches.
In contrast, Osasuna has struggled on home turf, failing to win any of their last nine league games and losing six of them.
Prediction: Osasuna 1 : 2 Celta Vigo
