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Preview: Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo

Sports Mole previews the second leg of the fifth-round Copa del Rey clash between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo.

Real Madrid will attempt to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey when they welcome Celta Vigo to the Spanish capital on Wednesday.

Celta picked up a 2-1 victory in the first leg on December 12, but Jose Mourinho's side are still considered the favourites to advance to the next stage of the competition.

Madrid's disappointing opening half to the La Liga season has left them in third spot in the table, while they have won just two of their last five matches in all competitions.

Celta are on a similar run of form, but did pick up a morale-boosting victory over Real Valladolid at the weekend in order to move them away from the relegation zone in Spain's top division.

Recent history does slightly favour the home side with Madrid winning three of the last five meetings between the two teams, however, all but one of those matches were won by the odd goal.

Madrid are expected to name their strongest available team, although Luka Modric and fit-again Gonzalo Higuain are both pushing for recalls. Celta, meanwhile, have no fresh injury concerns and will once more look to star man Iago Aspas to lead their line.

Recent form:

Real Madrid: WLDLW
Celta Vigo: LWLLW

Possible lineups:

Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Carvalho, Varane, Essien; Modric, Khedira, Alonso; Benzema, Ronaldo, Higuain

Celta Vigo: Sergio; Mallo, Arceo, Cabral, Lago; Oubina, Krohn-Dehli, Fernandez, Bermejo; Aspas, Park

Sports Mole says: 3-0

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Written by
Matt Law

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Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates a goal against Real Sociedad on January 6, 2013
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Atletico MadridAtletico18125133122141
2Real Madrid18124241182340
3Barcelona19122551222938
4Athletic Bilbao19106329171236
5Villarreal188643430430
6Mallorca199371921-230
7Real Sociedad187471613325
8GironaGirona187472625125
9Real BetisBetis186752122-125
10Osasuna186752327-425
11Celta Vigo187382728-124
12Rayo Vallecano185762021-122
13Las PalmasLas Palmas186482327-422
14Sevilla186482027-722
15Leganes184681728-1118
16AlavesAlaves184592130-917
17Getafe183781115-416
18Espanyol1843111630-1415
19Valencia172691626-1012
20Real ValladolidValladolid1833121237-2512


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