Overview
Despite losing to Ludogorets Razgrad last month, Celta are still four points above the Europa League elimination zone and just one point behind the top 8.
Despite a 2-3 defeat to Bulgaria, in which Pablo Duran and Jones El-Abdellaoui's late goals were only a short-term result after a poor hour, Celta still kept a bright chance to qualify for the group stage.
Under the leadership of Claudio Giraldez, the proactive playing style of the representative of Galicia is effective. In all competitions, Os Celestes have won 7/10 recent matches, including a shocking victory over Real Madrid last weekend.
Williot Swedberg - who came on in the second half - became a surprise hero when scoring a double at the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid had only 9 players, thereby bringing Celta back to the top half of the La Liga rankings.
After a historic away win over Real Madrid for the first time since 2006, Celta will return to Vigo to face Bologna for the first time.
Consolidating their position in the Europa League play-off group, Bologna defeated Red Bull Salzburg 4-1 last month, thereby significantly improving their chances of entering the top 8.
Main striker Riccardo Orsolini scored the winning goal at Stadio Dall' Ara, helping Rossoblu extend his unbeaten streak to 12 matches in all competitions.
However, they had a taste of defeat in early December, when they unexpectedly lost 1-3 at home to Cremonese. Despite quickly regaining their spirit with the Coppa Italia victory over Parma, Vinenzo Italiano and his team continued to lose important points in the Serie A top 4 race when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Lazio.
However, the Emilia team is still on track in the race for a place in the European Cup, and their performance in the Europa League arena has stabilized after a shaky start.
However, with the bottom 12 teams eliminated, Bologna cannot afford to make mistakes in the remaining three matches, starting with a difficult challenge in Spain.
Personnel situation
Celta centre-back Joseph Aidoo is still out with a hamstring injury, while Duran was forced off in the first half of the match against Real Madrid due to a shoulder problem. Swedberg has shined with a double, so he is likely to start.
In addition, the Swedish midfielder will also compete for a place in competition with Bryan Zaragoza, a player loaned to Bayern Munich. Zaragoza assisted both goals coming off the bench against Ludogorets, taking his Europa League total to three this season.
While Duran is Celta's best striker in the group stage with three goals, Bologna also have three names on the scoring list - Jens Odgaard, Thijs Dallinga and Orsolini - each of whom have scored two goals.
After serving his one-match suspension against Salzburg, Charalampos Lykogiannis has qualified to return and will compete for the left-back position with Juan Miranda.
However, Bologna will not have the services of Remo Freuler, Martin Vitik, Nicolo Casale and first goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski due to injury.
Expected lineup:
Celta Vigo: Radu, J. Rodriguez, Starfelt, Alonso, Carreira, D. Rodriguez, Beltran, Mingueza, Swedberg, Zaragoza, Jutgla.
Bologna: Ravaglia, Holm, Lucumi, Heggem, Lykogiannis, Moro, Ferguson, Orsolini, Odgaard, Bernardeschi, Dallinga.
The match between Celta Vigo and Bologna takes place at 3:00 am on December 12 (Vietnam time).
