Celta Vigo and Juventus met at Estadio Abanca-Balaídos in the UEFA Europa League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. Juventus turned the tie around and left Celta Vigo to chase the game for the best part of the second half. The turning point came at the 90+2 minute mark, when Randal Kolo Muani struck it with quality, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Juventus won 2-1 and carried the points home. 21805 supporters filled Estadio Abanca-Balaídos, and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read D D L W D for Celta Vigo and L W W L D for Juventus, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.
Match facts
- Date: 15.10.2026
- Kick-off: 19:00 UTC
- Venue: Estadio Abanca-Balaídos, Vigo, Spain (24870)
- Attendance: 21805
- Referee: Sander van der Eijk (Netherlands)
- Competition: UEFA Europa League 2026/2027 – Matchday 2
- Starting line-ups: Celta Vigo (3-4-3, Coach: Claudio Giráldez) / Juventus (3-4-2-1, Coach: Luciano Spalletti)
- Scorers: Hugo Álvarez 18′ (Celta Vigo); Nick Woltemade 58′ (Juventus); Randal Kolo Muani 90+2′ (Juventus)
Celta Vigo lined up with Ionuț Radu, Javi Rodríguez, Yoel Lago, Marcos Alonso, Javi Rueda, Ilaix Moriba, Aleix Febas, Sergio Carreira, Hugo Álvarez, Ferrán Jutglà, Williot Swedberg in a 3-4-3, while Juventus answered with Guglielmo Vicario, Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly, Weston McKennie, Pape Sarr, Teun Koopmeiners, Andrea Cambiaso, Francisco Conceição, Kerim Alajbegović, Nick Woltemade in a 3-4-2-1. Claudio Giráldez and Luciano Spalletti led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.
Goals and key moments
Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 18 minute mark, Hugo Álvarez struck it with quality, with Williot Swedberg supplying the pass that made it possible, and 1-0 was the consequence. It was a chance worth 0.59 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point Celta Vigo could play for the counter while Juventus had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. 58′: Nick Woltemade scored cleanly, and the arena had barely settled before it was 1-1. The chance itself carried 0.26 expected goals of weight, and the goalkeeper had no answer to it. The opening goal of the night arrived at the 90+2 minute mark, when Randal Kolo Muani struck it with quality for 1-2. The goalkeeper would say afterwards that it was worth 0.51, and that is the harshest measure of all. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.
The tactical picture
Celta Vigo started in 3-4-3 under Claudio Giráldez, while Juventus answered with 3-4-2-1 under Luciano Spalletti, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. Juventus’s 3-4-2-1 was the sharper of the two systems, and Celta Vigo’s 3-4-3 spent longer than they should have without the ball. Juventus pressed high and won the second ball, which left Celta Vigo unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against Celta Vigo, who kept trying to attack down the same flank and were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: Juventus moved the ball forward at speed, Celta Vigo could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.
Statistical comparison
The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. The numbers that decide matches rarely tell the whole story, but they narrow the argument down to a very small area. Expected goals told the sharper story: 1.00 for Celta Vigo, 1.89 for Juventus. Celta Vigo attempted 9 shots to Juventus’s 22, with 2 on target against 6. Possession finished at 47 per cent for Celta Vigo against 53 per cent for Juventus, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. Celta Vigo won 2 corners to Juventus’s 7, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. Celta Vigo completed 428 of 501 passes against 482 of 550 for Juventus, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 12 times by Celta Vigo and 19 by Juventus, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 4 and 1 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 48 to 46, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 19 times by Celta Vigo and 19 by Juventus, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening. Celta Vigo managed 5 shots from inside the penalty area compared with 17 for Juventus, which is the clearest single indicator of where the game was actually played.
Discipline and substitutions
Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. Celta Vigo collected 2 yellow cards and Juventus 2, with Williot Swedberg (39′), Lloyd Kelly (54′), Jhon Lucumí (72′) among the bookings. The caution count of 4 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 5 by Celta Vigo and 5 by Juventus, with the last substitution of the evening coming at the 85 minute mark. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. Sander van der Eijk took charge of the match and kept a close eye on a game that grew untidy in the middle third.
Player of the match and the standout performers
Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Nick Woltemade of Juventus was the player of the match with a rating of 8.4, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For Celta Vigo, the best individual rating belonged to Williot Swedberg (7.69). For Juventus, the best individual rating belonged to Nick Woltemade (8.44). The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. The goalkeeping was worth a mention too: Ionuț Radu made 4 saves for Celta Vigo, and Guglielmo Vicario made 1 for Juventus. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Williot Swedberg (7.69), Hugo Álvarez (7.47), Nick Woltemade (8.44), Pierre Kalulu (8.12).
What the result means for the league phase
Celta Vigo on 0 points from 2 matches, in 29th place with a goal difference of -2 and Juventus on 6 points from 2 matches, in 1st place with a goal difference of +6. Celta Vigo arrived with D D L W D in their last five and Juventus with L W W L D, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. For Juventus this is the result the league phase was built for, and it leaves them in a much healthier position; Celta Vigo will need to respond quickly. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.