Valencia vs Barcelona

Estadio de Mestalla forms the backdrop for a mouth-watering La Liga showdown between mid-table Valencia and title-bidding Barcelona.

Despite taking a second-half lead, Valencia found themselves on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline in last weekend’s home clash against Mallorca, taking their winless La Liga streak to three matches (D2, L1). Stuck in mid-table lethargy, ‘Los Che’ have to find a way to hold onto the lead once they grab it after dropping a league joint-high nine points from winning positions this season. It could prove crucial to their bid to defy an underwhelming 15-match home form against Barcelona in La Liga (W1, D7, L7) and get back to the win column for the first time since early October. However, Gennaro Gattuso’s men are staring down the barrel of back-to-back home league defeats for the first time since 2016, when the second reverse ominously came at the hands of Barcelona.

On the other hand, a dreadful 3-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich in midweek sealed Barcelona’s fate, condemning them to consecutive Champions League group stage exits for only the second time in the club’s history. Things are looking much more promising for Xavi Hernandez’s side in La Liga, where they trail pacesetters Real Madrid by only three points. Since succumbing to a 3-1 El Clasico loss in the capital a fortnight ago, the ‘Blaugrana’ have strung together successive league victories by 3+ goals ‘to nil,’ noticeably scoring precisely three first-half goals on each occasion. More importantly, Xavi has shored up Barcelona’s defensive line-up, with the Catalan heavyweights registering a jaw-dropping nine clean sheets in the opening 11 La Liga matchdays.