Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-On the brink of relinquishing their La Liga crown, Barcelona will look to salvage at least some pride when Valencia arrive at the Estadio Olimpico Luis Compensa on Monday night.
La Blaugrana are 14 points behind Real Madrid at the top of the standings, with their visitors’ European aspirations hit by a 2-1 defeat at Real Betis last time out.
Barcelona’s grip on the Spanish top-flight crown was further weakened in a controversial Clásico as Rivers suffered a reverse rematch against Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of the Champions League, thus dashing hopes of European supremacy.
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-As the home crowd in white cheered at Jude Bellingham’s late winner, an apoplectic Blaugrana fumed and raved about Lamine Yamal’s phantom goal – club president Joan Laporta went so far as to threaten legal action if the ball was found to have crossed the line – but the Blaugrana Pradhan was in a more upbeat mood earlier this week.
Indeed, after weeks of confirming that he would not reverse his decision to leave under any circumstances – after announcing his resignation following the defeat to Villarreal in January – head coach Xavi has suddenly had a change of heart and will remain in charge of Barca. 2024-25 campaign after all.
The reigning La Liga champions have hit a rich vein of form after Xavi dropped his first exit bombshell, but their Clasico defeat and Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad on Friday night leave them 14 points behind Los Blancos, albeit with a game in hand. Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-In hand.
Despite their last two failures, Barcelona should take solace from their three-match La Liga winning run on home turf – keeping clean sheets against Mallorca, Getafe and Las Palmas in the process – but Monday’s win will surely delay the inevitable. .
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-Likewise, Valencia travel to Catalonia after their own end-of-season aspirations suffered a cruel blow last weekend, with their three-match unbeaten run ending with a home loss to European chasers Betis, inspired by a former. Premier League striker.
Two Ayoze Perez strikes either side of a Pepelu penalty lifted Manuel Pellegrini’s men into the top seven at the expense of their hosts, who will start Monday night in eighth place, although they are just one point behind on penalties. Europa Conference League opponents.
Challenging for even a continental position, the loss marks a significant improvement for Che, whose dramatic fall from grace saw them avoid relegation to the second tier in 16th place in 2022-23 and represent their best result since 2018 when they finished in the top eight. will do -19.
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-Valencia’s three-game unbeaten run before falling short against Betis included back-to-back 1-0 wins at Granada and Osasuna, but they haven’t won in three La Liga contests on the road since November 2017 and their head-to-head against the hosts on Monday doesn’t make for surprisingly pleasant reading. .
Indeed, Los Che have won just one of their last 15 games against Barcelona and are winless in seven against La Blaugrana – losing five of those – although Ruben Barraza’s men fought back to hold the champions to a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla just before Christmas.
As well as the emotional pain of a potentially fatal Clásico defeat, Barcelona lost the hapless Frenkie de Jong to another ankle injury in first-half injury time at the Bernabeu, and this serious sprain will sideline the Dutch midfielder for the rest of the season.
De Jong – whose Euro 2024 participation should not be affected – joined Gavi (ACL) and Alejandro Balde (hamstring) on the long-term sick list and fellow midfielder Pedro, a regular occupant of the treatment room, did not train with full intensity during the week and his load was carefully managed.
However, there is nothing to suggest that Pedri would not be suitable to replace the injured De Jong in Xavi’s engine room, while Joao Cancelo should retain his place at left-back despite his defensive disaster in El Clasico.
For Valencia, Barajas’ primary concerns relate to the defense rather than the engine room, as Moukter Diakhabi (knee) and long-serving left-back Jose Gaya (thigh) are both out of contention.
Striker Roman Yaremchuk has yet to feature this month due to a hamstring injury, and having failed to return to team training during the week, the Ukrainian will not be ready to make his return on Monday.
Barajas will therefore work with an identical squad from the recent defeat at Betis, where Fran Perez lasted until the break before being withdrawn for Sergi Canos, so the former Brentford man could throw his hat in the ring for a starting role here.
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-lineup:
Barcelona’s probable starting lineup:
ter stagen; Kaunde, Araujo, Cuberci, Cancelo; Pedri, Christensen, Gundoga; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha
Valencia Probable Starting Lineup:
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-Mamardashvili; Correia, Mosquera, Ozkacar, Vazquez; Canos, Pepelu, Guerra, Lopez; Duro, Almeida
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions:
We say: Barcelona 2-0 Valencia
Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-Both Barcelona and Valencia will have prided themselves on defensive discipline before opening up their rearguards last weekend, but the hosts’ attacking firepower significantly exceeds that of their visitors.
Also buoyed by news of a U-turn in Xavi’s resignation, the reigning champions should snap their two-game winless streak with a professional performance, Barcelona vs Valencia Predictions-though it will certainly not be enough to retain their crown at the end of the football game season.
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