Valencia vs Real Madrid

Estadio de Mestalla is the venue as Valencia and Real Madrid lock horns in contrasting La Liga circumstances.

Goals on either side of halftime saw Valencia beat Celta Vigo 2-1 on the road last weekend and arrest a two-game winless league run (D1, L1), moving three points clear of the relegation zone in the process. Ruben Baraja’s men come into proceedings in a buoyant mood after only losing one of their last five La Liga matches (W3, D1) to go in firm control of their destiny. While Madrid’s visit to Mestalla looks ominous on paper, ‘Los Che’ can draw confidence from going unbeaten in five of their seven most recent top-flight H2Hs on home turf (W4, D2). Furthermore, they have only lost one of their last six league matches as hosts (W3, D2) despite netting under 1.5 goals on five occasions.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s bid to defend the Champions League title suffered an epic failure in midweek as Manchester City thrashed Carlo Ancelotti’s side 4-0 in England to crash them out of the semi-finals. Back to La Liga, where they’ve alternated between victories (3) and defeats (2) across their last five matches, ‘Los Merengues’ are looking to make amends to their fans at Mestalla. But after losing their last three competitive away games via multi-goal margins, they cannot take anything for granted despite entering this clash as pre-match favorites. When it comes to their La Liga travels, ‘Los Blancos’ are winless in four of their last five trips (D1, L3), highlighting Ancelotti’s desperate desire to get his team back to winning ways, even though it won’t matter in the final standings.