Claudio Giráldez wants Celta to move on fast from the 3-0 defeat at Vallecas and treat the visit of Union Saint-Gilloise as a chance to answer back. He said the loss is already behind them, but the team now has to react because football does not wait for anyone and has no memory, good or bad.
The search around Celta Vs Union makes sense because this is not just another European night. Giráldez said Celta should focus on adding points, ideally three, while also trying to keep the good stretch it had before the loss to Rayo. He was blunt about the difference between the mood after one result and the reality of the season: Celta is décimos in La Liga and still in the middle of a demanding Liga Europa campaign.
What stands out most is how strongly he spoke about the opponent. Giráldez described Union Saint-Gilloise as one of the best sides Celta has analyzed in European competition this season and last, pointing to a team that has gone deep into qualification and was left outside the top 24 last year only on goal difference. He called them an emerging side with many young players of a very high level, and said they are likely to arrive aggressively, with a clear 3-4-3 that can become a 3-5-2.
That makes the match less about name recognition and more about control. Giráldez said if Celta can beat the first press and force Union Saint-Gilloise to run backward, the visitors are not used to being close to their own goal. He also stressed that Celta must be just as aggressive when it defends, because the game will punish hesitation. In his view, the key is not to chase the ball blindly but to play with the same intensity that had made the side defend well before the setback.
There is, though, a friction point in his own assessment. Giráldez insists Celta is on the right path, yet he also said the 3-0 loss was far from what the team wants to be and far from the level it wants to show. He admitted he was very upset after the Rayo match because he did not like either the team or the result. At the same time, he warned against turning one bad night into a verdict on the squad, saying there has been too much negativity since jornada 3 and that the players deserve more trust.
He tied that argument to a detail that says plenty about where Celta is right now: 13 players who passed through Fortuna are in the squad for a Liga Europa match. For Giráldez, that is not a problem to hide but a point of pride and a reminder that the team must stay calm, confident and united. He said there are enough arguments to win matches, room to improve in attack and a need to recover attacking players, but the next step is simple enough. Celta has to turn the frustration from Vallecas into a performance that matches the competition it is about to play.
Hugo Álvarez, usually one of Celta's attacking players, is part of that picture too. If Giráldez gets the response he wants, the story of Celta Vs Union will not be about the last defeat anymore. It will be about whether Celta can take a difficult European test and leave with the kind of result that changes the mood around the team.
