PREVIEW: Valencia v FC Barcelona

The Blaugrana travel to Mestalla for a difficult league game against Valencia. A win for the visitors at a ground where they’ve not lost in any competition since March 2008, will see them end the weekend as joint leaders of LaLiga at the very least.

How to follow the game live

The game kicks off at 4.00pm CET. A list of broadcasters can be found here and these are the timetables for the rest of the world:

The rival

Stadium: Mestalla
Coach: Albert Celades
La Liga record (2019/20): 31 points. 8W, 7D and 5L
Former Blaugranas in the squad: Jasper Cillessen

Goals galore

Barça almost always find the back of the net at Mestalla, which has become a happy hunting ground for them over the years. In the last 17 fixtures at Valencia’s stadium in all competitions, the Blaugranes have only remained goalless on two occasions. Those fixtures came way back on October 17, 2009 (0-0) and February 12, 2006 (1-0). 

Interesting stats

Valencia are Leo Messi’s second favourite opponent in terms of goals scored. In 26 games, the Argentinian has scored 24 and provided 10 assists.

Quique Setién and Albert Celades have never faced each other as coaches.

One third of Valencia's goals (10/30) have come in the last 15 minutes of games.

Five of the six goals scored by Dani Parejo against Barça have been penalties.

Last time we met

The two teams last met at the Camp Nou on September 14, 2019, with Barça running out comfortable 5-2 winners in the LaLiga fixture. On that occasion, Luis Suárez scored a brace with Gerard Piqué, Frenkie de Jong and Ansu Fati also on the score sheet.

The squad

Quique Setién has called up 18 players for the visit to Mestalla. They are: Ter Stegen, N. Semedo, Piqué, I. Rakitic, Sergio, Arthur, Messi, Lenglet, Griezmann, Jordi Alba, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Vidal, Umtiti, Junior, Iñaki Peña, Collado and Ansu Fati. Wague and Carles Pérez have been left out by the coach, while Suárez, Dembélé and Neto are injured.