Can Valencia Give Real Madrid a Helping Hand Against Barcelona?
Real Madrid may possess the players, the desire and the mathematical possibility to win this season’s Primera Liga title, but, with six rounds remaining, that’s not enough. To catch Barcelona, they’re going to need a little help from those around them.
But, where is this help going to come from? Options are quickly diminishing. They would have had high hopes that the league’s third best team, Seville, would have slowed Barca’s march to the title in midweek. This didn’t happen. Not even a little. The Rojiblancos were on the receiving end of pistol whipping at the Camp Nou, with Andres Iniesta dominant and Leo Messi not even required.
So, what about Spain’s fourth best team? Does Valencia have a better chance of stopping Barcelona than Seville did?
My initial answer to this question was – no. No, they haven’t. Anyone who saw the way that Barca tore apart the boys from Andalusia wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that there isn’t a team in Europe capable of halting them at the moment. Except perhaps, for Chelsea. But that’s another debate for another time.
But then I sat down and really thought about it. Call me a naive optimist, but I’ve come to think that Los Che have a crazy chance to steal the three points on Saturday night in what promises to be an absolute belter at the Mestalla.
Why? Momentum for one thing. Since the club secured a loan which allowed them to resume paying their employees, they’ve won five straight and are unbeaten in six. They’re up into fourth, only two points from third. They’re a happy team at the minute, playing exciting and fearless football.
Their attacking options for another. They won’t have Joaquin, but they will have the vision and passing ability of David Silva, the pace and dynamism of Juan Mata, and the finest striker in Spain – David Villa.
There’s a reason every team in Europe wants him. The man with the nickname El Guaje is the full package. A born goal scorer, he’s fast, strong, intelligent, great with both feet and he loves the big stage. He will have watched the way Kun Aguero terrorised the Barcelona defense in Atletico’s 4-3 triumph earlier this season and will be looking to do the same.
The trouble is, he may need to score a hat-trick for his team to have a chance. You see, Valencia’s biggest problems are in defense. Their back four are, on paper, as average as, or maybe even worse than, Seville’s. Whilst the likes of Asier Del Horno, Alexis, Hedwiges Maduro and Raul Albiol are capable of striking fear into the hearts of supporters, it’s usually their own, not the oppositions. They’ve been better of late, but this weekend they’ll be up against a team with attacking weaponry second to none.
They can’t afford to concede an early goal. If they can keep Messi and Co. at bay for, say, the first five minutes, they’ll have won half the battle. Barca crave early goals, and they’re extremely good at getting them. Valencia will have to be on their toes form the very first whistle.
Valencia may not be the favourites in this one, but by no means should they be written off. They’ve got the form, the fans and the firepower to get a win against a Barcelona team who will surely have one eye on their upcoming Champions League semi-final with Chelsea. Real Madrid will be watching from their hotel room in Seville, hoping they do just that.
the only way i can see valencia getting anything out of this is if guardiola rests some of his midfield.because without manuel fernandes,valencia lack pace and energy in centre midfield.the attack will be no problem,especially with the form villa,silva and mata are currently in.this is gonna be a brilliant match,4 goals at least.hopefully in favour of los che
Valencia have a fantastic team and i definatly think that they deserve to be in 3th position(after Real M. and Barca) and yes i agree their biggest problem is defence and i think that their strongest weapon is midfield not only that they have a fantastic midfield but also they have a lot of players in midfield that they can count on.One thing is when a team has fantastic midfield(about 3,4 or 5 great platers) but when a team has 7 or 8 great players now that’s something and Valencia has a lot of great midfielders like David Silva,Joaquin,Vicente Rodrigues,Albelda,Baraja,Manuel Fernandes and even Maduro and Edu are pretty good jes and one more problem is that CM are very old(Albelda and Baraja) soo they could buy some midfielders on that position of course after they buy a decent defender(s)
if this was sandwiched between the two semi-final games then yes, valencia would have had a great chance. As it is, Barcelona just need it to win by half time, and then rotate / rest as appropriate.
It would turn the league on its head if Valencia got a point or more though, not to mention give Chelsea a boost.
oh how i miss the days when valencia had ayala.
if u watched Valencia throughout the season like i have, the only shinning light is the attacking midfielder (David Silva), left attacking midfielder (Manuel Mata), David Villa and the sole player with ANY FREAKING defensive capabilities Raul Albiol. The only way Valencia can get anything out of this game is if they can pin Barca in their own half for most of the game which is very very unlikely. Barca don’t have a great defense so the likes of villa, silv, mata and maybe Pablo Hernandez going cause some havoc.
Also Joaquin is really shit since his time at Los Che and has been more shit this season. His petulance is unbelievable and he manages to lose the ball all the time. David Bentley is the Spanish Joaquin. Albelda and Baraja are past it (even they know it), Manuel Fernandez looks a tad clueless in midfield – this might not be his fault though. I reckon Unai Emery doesnt tell him whether he should play more of an attacking role or keep a defensive mindset.
we(valencia) need to go straight for it i think.we cant rely on being in any way defensive.from kick off the front 4 need to pressure barca and go for wave after wave of attacks whenever we have the ball.i would like to see edu play,he can pick a pass a lot better than baraja can
valencia have a potent offense and it may just prove strong enough to compete with barca’s. i think it’s there for the taking for valencia, but compared to barca they tend to be rather inconsistent, so it’s a matter of chance really.
and fyi, valencia essentially tore apart sevilla the week before barca did, with the help of a red card.
f*ck you henry!denying us a brilliant victory.still though,a very good point for valencia,bit of a cushion now in 4th…still cant believe maduro scored
@duffman do you see Madrid getting back in the title race?
great effort from Los Che. Very unlucky in the end. Deserved the win. Their second goal was magic from pablo and mata. DId Madrid a huge favour. A win for them tonight and they’ll feel very confident going into the classico next week…
all depends on what happens at the ramon sanchez pizjuan tonight ahmed.a draw and its as good as barcas for sure
yet another game in which luck has been on the side of barca. very good performance by valencia, though.
Brilliant game by Madrid too at Sevilla.
brilliant?nah,if sevilla were in any way clinical today they would have been 3 or 4 goals up at half time.aside from the goal and 1 higuain chance,real were shockingly poor in the 1st half
Just because Sevilla really put pressure on Real in the first half doesn’t mean that Real were poor. They just needed to settle down and control the game. And there is absolutely no way that Sevilla could have been up three goals by halftime.
let me qualify that.
brilliant comeback by Real.
We’ve seen a few of those this week, eh duff?
can i ask if you watched the game ruud?because if you did you would have seen that real were actually very bad.diarra was the only one who actually tried to do something positive besides fouling anyone in a 2m radius
thats more like it ahmed