Celta Vigo lost coach Eduardo Berizzo at the end of an impressive 2016/17 campaign in which they reached the Europa League semi-finals. They brought in former Barcelona assistant Juan Carlos Unzue as his replacement, but had a disappointing year and finished in 13th, which is considered an underachievement.
Right from the off, Celta Vigo struggled. They won just one of their first five matches, with the players taking some time to get used to Unzue’s possession-based 4-3-3 formation. Even once the players did get the hang of the system, Celta Vigo were too predictable and many opposition sides simply sat deep when they played them, aware that Celta would keep the ball but lack penetration.
With an early Copa del Rey elimination at the hands of Barcelona, the only way this season could have been considered a success for Celta Vigo would have been for them to qualify for Europe, but they simply weren’t consistent enough to do so. Only once all season did they win consecutive league games, winning three in a row in January, which simply wasn’t good enough to make a strong challenge.
Celta Vigo also can’t make many excuses, as they had a talented squad, with good players such as Stanislav Lobotka, Emre Mor and Maxi Gomez brought in last summer to a group that already contained Iago Aspas.
They also had hardly any injuries this season, boasting one of the healthiest squads in the whole division. Yet they still managed to finish as low as 13th.
For that reason, Celta Vigo have already announced that Unzue will not be continuing as coach and they’ve hired Antonio Mohamed, who has done impressive things in Argentina and Mexico, but who has no European experience.
