Celta Vigo’s controversial announcement that they intend to leave their hometown of 94 years has overshadowed their clash with Eibar on Sunday.
Celta President Carlos Mourino stated in an explosive Press conference on Friday that the Galicians were planning to build a new stadium and training complex outside of Vigo, explaining the local council were “throwing” the club out by refusing to sell them their current home of Balaidos.
“There’s no-one better than him to make that decision,” assured Coach Eduardo Berizzo.
“If he’s come to this conclusion, he will have exhausted avenues and resources for us to have a stadium here.
“If he thinks that Celta will be better off with a stadium where he thinks it’s more convenient and that the people of the club will be able to enjoy a comfortable stadium and a good training complex, I’m with that idea.”
Successive wins were compounded by a 3-2 defeat to Valencia on Thursday, although Celta at least a game in hand on the teams around them in mid-table.
Eibar, meanwhile, are in line to smash their highest points tally in La Liga as they have surpassed last season’s 43 with eight games still to play, although boss Jose Luis Mendilibar is hoping for more as victory in Vigo would catapult Los Armeros into Europa League contention.
“By beating Celta, we would no longer have any regrets that Europe is still far away, we should compete for it and we hope we can say that we are after the game,” the Basque told reporters.
Celta Vigo (probable): Sergio; Mallo, Cabral, Fontas, Jonny; Radoja, Jozabed, Pablo Hernandez; Rossi, Aspas, Bongonda
Injuries/suspensions: Sisto (doubtful), Guidetti, Diaz, Blanco, Alvaro Lemos (I)
Eibar (probable): Yoel; Capa, Galvez, Ramis, Luna; Pedro Leon, Dani Garcia, Escalante, Adrian; Enrich, Kike
Injuries/suspensions: Escalante (doubtful) Inui (S) Fran Rico, Lejeune, Nano (I)
Referee: Munuera Montero
Form guide: Celta (L W W L L) Eibar (W W D D L)
Previous meeting: Eibar 1-0 Celta
Kick-off time: 15:15 BST/16:15 CET
