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La Liga: Barcelona vs. Valencia: Barcelona, who are about to lose their La Liga title, will try to save face when Valencia visits Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Monday night.
La Blaugrana now trail Real Madrid by 14 points atop the standings, and their visitors’ hopes of qualifying for Europe were dashed last time out with a 2-1 loss to Real Betis.
Following their devastating Remontada loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final eight, which ended their dreams of winning the continent, Barcelona’s hold on the Spanish premiership got increasingly tenuous in a highly contentious Clasico.
The Blaugrana chief was in a more upbeat mood earlier this week, but the white-clad home crowd was ecstatic about Jude Bellingham’s late winner. Club president Joan Laporta even threatened legal action if it was determined that Lamine Yamal’s phantom goal had crossed the line.
In fact, head coach Xavi has abruptly changed his mind and will continue to lead Barca for the 2024–25 season after weeks and weeks of declaring that he would not be unduly withdrawing his resignation decision following January’s loss to Villarreal.
The defending La Liga champions were on a roll after Xavi delivered his first exit bombshell, but despite having a game remaining, they are now 14 points behind Los Blancos following their Clasico loss and Real Madrid’s 1-0 victory against Real Sociedad on Friday.
Barcelona should be encouraged by their three-game La Liga winning streak at home, which they have enjoyed despite their last two losses. During that run, they have kept clean sheets against Mallorca, Getafe, and Las Palmas. However, winning on Monday would just postpone what is certain to happen.
Valencia, meanwhile, travels to Catalonia after suffering a painful blow to their own end-of-season hopes last weekend. They lost at home to fellow European contenders Betis, who were motivated by a former Premier League striker, ending their three-match winning streak.
After a Pepelu penalty kick response, two goals from Ayoze Perez put Manuel Pellegrini’s team in the top seven, ahead of their hosts, who will begin play on Monday night in eighth place, but with just one point separating them from their Europa Conference League counterparts.
Finishing in the top eight would be Los Che’s best result since 2018–19. After a precipitous decline that nearly resulted in their relegation to the second division in 16th place in 2022–23, even fighting for the continental slots represents a huge improvement for the team.
Prior to losing to Betis, Valencia had won three straight La Liga games on the road, including 1-0 victories over Granada and Osasuna. However, they haven’t won three straight away in La Liga since November 2017, and their matchup with Monday’s hosts is obviously not one to look forward to.
Ruben Baraja’s team rallied to hold the champions to a 1-1 draw at Mestalla just before Christmas, but Los Che have only won one of their previous 15 meetings against Barcelona and are winless in seven overall versus La Blaugrana.
Barcelona La Liga form:
D W W W W L
Barcelona form (all competitions):
W W W W L L
Valencia La Liga form:
W L D W W L
Barcelona suffered the unfortunate loss of Frenkie de Jong to another ankle sprain during first-half injury time at the Bernabeu, and the Dutch midfielder will be out of commission for the rest of the season in addition to the mental anguish of losing a possibly deadly Clasico match.
De Jong, whose participation in Euro 2024 shouldn’t be affected, has been added to the long-term infirm list along with Gavi (ACL) and Alejandro Balde (hamstring). Fellow midfielder Pedri, who frequently visits the treatment room, did not train at full intensity this week since his workload is being carefully monitored.
Joao Cancelo should continue to start at left-back after a defensive disaster class in El Clasico, and there is no indication that Pedri won’t be ready to take De Jong’s place in Xavi’s engine room.
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Regarding Valencia, Baraja’s main worries are not with the engine room but with the defence, as both veteran left-back Jose Gaya (thigh) and Mouctar Diakhaby (knee) are out of the running.
Due to a hamstring injury, Roman Yaremchuk has not played this month. Since he did not show up for team practice this week, the Ukrainian striker will not be prepared to return on Monday.
Due to the fact that Baraja will be working with the same team from the most recent defeat to Betis—in which Fran Perez was substituted for Sergi Canos only until the half—the former Brentford player may be given a chance to start this game.
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Cancelo; Pedri, Christensen, Gundogan; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha
Valencia possible starting lineup:
Mamardashvili; Correia, Mosquera, Ozkacar, Vazquez; Canos, Pepelu, Guerra, Lopez; Duro, Almeida
Our Prediction for this match 3-1 or 2-0 won by barcelona
