Valencia vs Barcelona – Copa Del Rey – Preview

Posted on February 6, 2018 by Sreya

Valencia vs Barcelona – Valencia hosts Barcelona at the Estadio de Mestalla on 8th February, Thursday in the second leg of their Copa Del Rey semi-finals.

Barcelona won 1-0 against Valencia in the first leg at El Camp Nou courtesy a second-half goal from Luis Suarez, but the lead is so slender that Valencia will be hopeful of their chances.

Barcelona have all but ran away with the league, taking a huge nine-point lead over the second-placed Atletico Madrid and are chasing the treble, with a UEFA Champions League clash against Chelsea later this month. Valencia are third in the La Liga and are having a pretty upbeat season as well.

Valencia eliminated Real Zaragoza, Las Palmas and Deportivo Alaves in the previous rounds while Barcelona saw off Real Murcia, Celta de Vigo and Espanyol.

Team News

Valencia will be without the injured Andreas Pereira and Goncalo Guedes.

Sergi Samper, Ousmane Dembele and Lucas Digne miss out for Barcelona due to injuries

“It’s the minimum advantage. A 1-0 win isn’t much, but there’s the plus that they haven’t scored. They didn’t create much danger, they respected us and that’s beneficial for us. The tie is still open. We will have to plan well [for the return game]. They’re going to press a lot and we can’t be asleep. We have to be switched on.”

– Luis Suarez, Barcelona.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Valencia vs Barcelona H2H Stats, Barcelona have won three, lost one and drawn one of their previous five matches against Valencia.

Barcelona are undefeated in thirty-two of their last thirty-four matches in the Copa del Rey, keeping a clean sheet in five of their last seven matches in this competition.

It should be a closely contested affair with a 1-1 draw being the most likely result of the second leg, but Barcelona are the favorites to progress to the finals of the Copa Del Rey.