Vigo/Valladolid, Feb 25 (EFE) his return to league ownership five months later.
The goalkeeper from Palencia has not played in LaLiga since last September 16 in the defeat against Cádiz. Asenjo started five of the first six stages, but several errors and the good performance of Jordi Masip caused him to disappear from the lineups.
In Balaídos, therefore, the spotlight will focus on him. Pacheta has chosen him ahead of the young Álvaro Acebes to replace the injured Masip. In front of him he will have Iago Aspas, who already embittered him more than one afternoon during his time at Villarreal.
If the losses of Masip and Machís are a setback for the Valladolid coach, what to say about Óscar Mingueza for Carvalhal. The Portuguese loses one of his pillars.
The former Barcelona soccer player has gone from not counting for Coudet to being a fixture in the light blue eleven. He has chained 11 games as a starter, first as a center back in a defense of 5 and now as a right back in the line of four. His great moment, moreover, has caused something unthinkable a few months ago: the substitution of captain Hugo Mallo.
The Galician defender has not played an official match since January 20 against Mallorca. His coach justified it because Mallo “lost focus” after asking the club to leave him in the winter market to Atlético Mineiro. With that door closed, his return to eleven could be due to the loss of Mingueza.
The other, more surprising option, would be for Carvalhal to bet on Kevin Vázquez, whom he used in recent days to close the games, or the Argentine Augusto Solari.
Real Valladolid presents significant casualties on their visit this Sunday to the Balaídos stadium, among which the goalkeeper, Jordi Masip, and the left winger, Darwin Machís, both undisputed starters for the Blanquivioleta team, stand out in particular.
In the case of the Catalan goalkeeper, he will be away from the pitch for two months, while Machís, a priori, would only miss this match, since he is suffering from soleus discomfort, but the Burgos coach, José Rojo “Pacheta”, He has made it clear that until they have been remitted in their entirety, he will not count on him.
Sergio Asenjo will be in charge of making up for the absence of Masip in the Valladolid goal, while Machís would leave his place to Amallah or Iván Sánchez, to return to placing the Canadian striker, Cyle Larin, as the only striker, repeating the usual 4-2 -3-1.
“Pacheta”, despite the drawbacks, has noticed that it has a very complete squad, in which it has many alternatives and, in this sense, has explained that in the center of the field it has “other very good players -like Aguado , Roque Mesa or Amallah, but now they have to be on the bench before the great moment that Kike Pérez and Monchu are experiencing”.
The objective is to maintain the verticality and security with the ball that they have shown in recent matches “but having more arrivals, more scoring chances and more definition” and, although the blanquivioleta coach would sign to obtain the result of the first round in the José Zorrilla (4-1), would like his team “to play a better game, with a better game, and with the same success in the face of the opposing goal”.
He knows that it will not be easy to stop a player as decisive as Iago Aspas “and for this reason we will have to focus on him participating as little as possible, since he activates his teammates”, but he is also clear that “it is a team with very good footballers , happy and with arrival ”.
– Probable lineups:
Celtic RC: Iván Villar; Hugo Mallo, Aidoo, Unai Núñez, Javi Galán; Carles Pérez, Beltrán, Gabri Veiga, Luca de la Torre; Aspas and Larsen or Seferovic.
Valladolid: Asenjo; Luis Pérez, Hongla or El Yamiq, Javi Sánchez, Olaza; Kike Perez, Monchu; Silver, Óscar Plano, Amallah or Iván Sánchez; Larin.
Referee: De Burgos Bengoetxea (Basque Committee)
Stadium: Ballads.
Time: 4:15 pm
