Yoel Lago (Celta) breaks through and racks up 585 LaLiga minutes

Yoel Lago, a defender for Celta, has won Claudio Giráldez’s trust and is already the team’s most-used player at the start of LaLiga. He has appeared in all seven matches, completing six for a total of 585 minutes. His only rest came in Europa League against Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus.

The academy product is carrying that momentum from last season’s finish: he started the last seven league games when Starfelt was injured, after a campaign with limited minutes. At 22, he has 37 official matches with Celta’s first team and has scored two goals despite playing in defence.

For the past two years the back line rotated the least. Javi Rodríguez lost his regular spot, Starfelt isn’t fully fit and Marcos Alonso remains an essential starter. With Álvaro Núñez, Cáceres and, to a lesser extent, Faye covering rotation, the one who “plays almost everything” is the Celta centre-back, as Marca reports.