Barcelona vs Valencia – La Liga – Preview

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Sreya

Barcelona hosts Valencia at El Camp Nou on 17th April, Sunday as the Catalan club aims to bounce back from their recent stretch of poor form. Barcelona have not won any of their last three La Liga matches, losing a crucial El Clasico to Real Madrid after drawing at Villareal and before being upset by Real Sociedad last weekend.

They didn’t fare much better in the UEFA Champions League as Luis Enrique’s side gave up a one-goal advantage to get knocked out by Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Barcelona are still the La Liga leaders with seventy six points from thirty two matches, one point ahead of Real Madrid who have played a game more and three points ahead of Atletico Madrid who host Granada this evening.

Valencia, who are on the thirteenth position with thirty seven points, won against Sevilla after four consecutive defeats.

Team News

Sandro Ramirez, Thomas Vermalaen and Jeremy Mathieu are sidelined through injuries while Rafinha is a doubt. Arda Turan is suspended, having accumulated five yellow cards.

Valencia will be without Zakaria Bakkali, Pablo Piatti, Denis Cheryshev and Sofiane Feghouli.

Barcelona Possible Starting Lineup: Claudio Bravo, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Jordi Alba, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar.

Valencia Possible Starting Lineup: Diego Alves, Joao Cancelo, Skhodran Mustafi, Aymen Abdennour, Jose Gaya, Andre Gomes, Javi Fuego, Daniel Parejo, Rodrigo, Paco Alcacer, Santi Mina.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“We have to forget the past. It won’t be easy, and we are going to need the fans’ support more than ever. It’s at difficult times like these that we need them most.”

– Luis Enrique, Barcelona.

“Against Barcelona you’re either ready to suffer and show your competitive spirit or you have no options, because Barça will have the ball more than us. We’ll do our best to have some of the ball as well, but we know we’re not going to have it most of the time and we need to be prepared to manage the game well.”

– Pako Ayestaran, Valencia.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Barcelona have won three and lost one of their previous six encounters with Valencia. In fact, Barcelona have won nine of their last ten home matches against Valencia in all competitions, scoring at least two goals in them.

Barcelona are likely to respond positively to their failures and are the favorites to win by a 2-0 scoreline.