Overview
Two narrow victories against a disciplined Greek opponent helped Celta Vigo win a ticket to the round of 16 of the Europa League for the first time since the 2016-2017 season.
Coach Claudio Giraldez's team is showing significant stability. 4 out of 5 recent official matches of Celta Vigo have ended with a one-goal difference, in which they won three.
Celta Vigo entered this match with a 4-match unbeaten streak in the Europa League, dropping points only once during that time when they drew Red Star Belgrade 1-1.
Home form is also a significant support for the Galician team. Celta won 4 out of 5 home matches in the Europa League this season. However, the worrying thing is that three out of their four defeats in 2026 took place at Balaidos.
The upcoming match will be the first time Celta Vigo has returned to the Europa League knockout round since the 2016-2017 season, when they reached the semi-finals. Notably, Celta's only two defeats in the knockout rounds that season both took place at home.
However, Os Celestes has a fairly good record when facing French teams. They have won all matches against opponents from Ligue 1 in this season's Europa League, defeating both Lille and Nice at Balaidos Stadium with the same score of 2-1.
On the other side, Lyon had an almost perfect group stage period, but their performance in the domestic league has recently shown signs of decline.
Coach Paulo Fonseca's team has won 7 out of 8 matches in the previous phase of the Europa League, but entered this match with a 4-match winless streak.
This is the second consecutive season Lyon has reached the round of 16 of the Europa League. In the previous five times they reached this round, the French team has only been eliminated once, against CSKA Moscow in 2018.
Lyon also has quite impressive away record in the Europa League knockout round. They are unbeaten in their last 6 away matches in the knockout round in official time. Their last defeat was against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the second leg of the quarter-finals last season, after the match had to be extended to extra time.
This season, Lyon's only defeat in the Europa League was the 0-2 defeat to Real Betis in Spain in November. However, the French team has never been eliminated in the Europa League knockout round against an opponent from La Liga.
Personnel situation
Before this match, Celta Vigo had almost the strongest force. The only notable case is Pablo Duran Fernandez, who is still having knee ligament problems and his ability to play is still uncertain.
In the previous round, Williot Swedberg was a prominent factor when he scored 2 out of 3 goals for Celta Vigo in the knockout matches, including the decisive goal in the second leg at home. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Ionut Radu did not have to work too hard when keeping a clean sheet without needing to make a save.
On Lyon's side, the French team is facing quite a few personnel problems. Afonso Moreira and Pavel Sulc suffered hamstring injuries, Ainsley Maitland-Niles has closed muscle problems, Malick Fofana is recovering from an ankle injury, and Ruben Kluivert has muscle problems.
In addition, Ernest Nuamah will have to be sidelined for a long time due to a cruciate ligament injury.
Expected lineup:
Celta Vigo: Radu, Rodriguez, Starfelt, Alonso, Carreira, Vecino, Aspas, Moriba, Rueda, Iglesias, Swedberg.
Greif, Mata, Niakhate, Hateboer, Tagliafico, Tessmann, Nartey, Abner, Karabec, Tolisso, Yaremchuk.
The match between Celta Vigo and Lyon takes place at 3:00 AM on March 13 (Vietnam time).
