PREVIEW | Valencia CF v FC Barcelona

Following disappointment in the Champions League, Barça’s attention now switches back to Liga, which has generally been a much happier story thus far with just one defeat in 11 games, including two very sold 3-0 victories over Villarreal and Athletic Club in the last two outings.

Those were both at Spotify Camp Nou, while this Saturday 9pm CEST kick-off gets them back on the road to Valencia. After three mid-table finishes, 2022/23 has got off to a similar start for a side that normally expects to be much higher up in the table.

Gattuso in charge

Milan and Italy legend Gennaro Gattuso is the man now in charge of Los Che, a man Xavi knows only too well from their many clashes in opposing midfields in their playing days for club and country. This will be their first meeting from rival benches.

But Gattuso has managed against Barça before. That was in the 2019/20 Champions League when he was in charge of Napoli and got knocked out by Quique Setién’s team.

How it stands

A win for Barça would temporarily match them on points with Real Madrid at the top of the table. The all-whites are in action on Sunday at 4.15pm CEST, when third-from-bottom Girona will be the guests at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Team news

Once again defenders Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo, as well as striker Memphis, are unavailable due to injury. Xavi once again insisted on Friday that there is nothing wrong with Gavi and he will probably play in this one.

One loss in 15

Mestalla is traditionally one of the hardest places to go in La Liga, but the blaugrana have performed very decently indeed at the ground in recent years, with just one defeat in fifteen visits, a 2-0 loss in 2020. The other games have seen Barça win seven and seven games end in draws.

Tribute to a legend

Prior to the game, a special homage is to be paid to David Villa that had to be suspended at an earlier date due to the pandemic. The Asturian was a hero at Valencia from 2005 and 2010, scoring 129 goals and helping the side to win the Copa del Rey. He then joined Barça, where he returned 48 goals and memorable performances such as the one in the Champions League Final at Wembley.

Watch out for Cavani

With 376 career goals, Edison Cavani is one of the finest centre forwards in European football. After starring for Napoli, PSG and Manchester United, he is now enjoying his first season in Spanish football at Valencia, where he is the club’s top scorer so far.

Other than the 2011 Joan Gamper with Napoli, the Uruguayan has met Barça six times in the Champions League, on each occasion with PSG. He is best remembered for his role in the famous meeting of 2016/17. He scored one of the four goals in Paris that looked to have sent his side comfortably through to the quarter finals, but despite also scoring in the return, it was not enough to prevent Barça from achieving that historic comeback with a 6-1 win.

Familiar faces

Barça has two players, Ferran Torres and Jordi Alba, who will be playing against their former club. It was there that Alba first earned his reputation as one of the best full-backs in Spain before returning to his boyhood team.

Torres was a product of the Valencia academy, and made it into the first team before departing for Manchester City in 2020.

Looking the other way, this game a reunion with Guinean Ilaix Moriba, who broke into the Barça first team in the 2020/21 under Ronald Koeman. Nico González, who is on loan from Barça and has scored one goal in his six games played so far this season, cannot play in this game due to the ‘fear clause’ in the agreement stating that he cannot face hid parent club.

Xavi says

“Valencia play a bit like Valverde did when he was here. They play dynamic, joyful football, very similar to what we do.”

“Against Bayern there was clearly a psychological issue because we had already been knocked out. And the players needed to keep calm. But I have told them to change the chip. We are doing well in the league and tomorrow I want to see a reaction.”

“We mustn’t let poor results distract us from our idea. I often went through this as a player. We need to keep believing.”

“We are monitoring Nico. He wanted to go to Valencia to get playing time and it’s working out well for him. I like the idea of the ‘fear clause’. We shouldn’t suffer the consequences of our own player … We may well speak to him about coming back this winter.”