Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Europa League clash between Celta Vigo and Nice, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Celta Vigo will be looking to claim a second successive Europa League victory when they welcome Nice to Balaidos on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the French visitors will be desperate for a positive result after losing their opening two league phase games.
Match preview
Celta are participating in European competition for the first time since 2016-17 after achieving a seventh-placed finish in La Liga last term.
Unfortunately for Claudio Giraldez‘s side, they are finding life much tougher in the 2025-26 La Liga campaign, having failed to win any of their opening nine league matches (D7, L2).
The Galician outfit appeared to be on course to clinch a long-awaited league win in Sunday’s clash with Real Sociedad after taking the lead through Pablo Duran’s 20th-minute effort.
Carl Starfelt‘s red card in the latter stages of the first period forced Celta to defend for the majority of the second half, and just as they closed in on the finish line, Carlos Soler netted an 89th-minute equaliser to ensure that the hosts had to settle for a fifth consecutive 1-1 home league draw.
Los Celestes at least enjoyed a win in their most recent European outing against PAOK earlier this month, which saw them bounce back from a narrow loss to Stuttgart on matchday one with a 3-1 success against their Greek opponents at Balaidos.
That result has formed part of a six-game unbeaten home run (W1, D5), which stretches back to the club’s 2-0 defeat to Getafe on the opening day of the season.
Nice qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round via last season’s fourth-placed finish, only to drop down to the Europa League following a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Benfica.
Like Celta, Nice have struggled to match the heights of last season, having won just three, drawn two and lost seven of their 12 competitive matches this term.
Two of those defeats have taken place in the Europa League league phase, losing both of their opening two games against Roma and Fenerbahce by 2-1 scorelines.
Despite their struggles this season, Nice will head to Spain in a positive mood after ending a five-game winless run with an exciting 3-2 victory over Lyon at the Allianz Rivera on Saturday.
Melvin Bard, Sofiane Diop and Hicham Boudaoui all got on the scoresheet as Nice claimed their third victory in five home league matches, moving them up to 10th place in the Ligue 1 standings.
While they have enjoyed success on home turf, Nice will enter Thursday’s fixture with the objective of clinching their first away win of the season after losing four of their opening five trips away from the Allianz Riviera this term (D1).
Celta Vigo Europa League form:
L W
Celta Vigo form (all competitions):
D L L W D D
Nice Europa League form:
L L
Nice form (all competitions):
L L D L D W
Team News
Celta forward Williot Swedberg remains a doubt after picking up an ankle injury while on international duty with the Sweden Under-21s.
Mihailo Ristic should be available for selection, having recovered from a muscle injury that has kept him out of the last five matches.
Carlos Dominguez, Damian Rodriguez, Javi Rueda and Iago Aspas could come into the lineup if Giraldez opts to freshen up his side for Thursday’s fixture.
As for the visitors, Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Moise Bombito and Mohamed Abdelmonem are all out injured and have been left out of the Europa League squad.
Striker Terem Moffi will be out of action for a number of weeks after missing the 3-2 win over Lyon with a calf injury.
Defender Ali Abdi was suspended for Saturday’s Ligue 1 clash, but he will come back into the squad for the trip to Galicia.
Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:
Radu; Dominguez, Starfelt, Alonso; Rueda, Rodriguez, Moriba, Mingueza; Aspas, Duran, Iglesias
Nice possible starting lineup:
Diouf; Mendy, Dante, Peprah; Clauss, Boudaoui, Vanhoutte, Bard; Boga, Diop, Cho
We say: Celta Vigo 2-2 Nice
Nice will be desperate to pick up their first away win of the season, but while Celta have found wins hard to come by, they have proven to be a tough team to beat at Balaidos, and with that in mind, we think that they could play out another draw in Thursday’s contest.
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